Power Rangers: Occult Circle - Volume 2
by Stormasius
Summary: In the aftermath of the fight against the Abyssal Cult, the Occult rangers lost one of their own and scattered to the winds. Without a unified cause, they each searched for something to fight for. With Lucifer free however, they must reunite if they are to defeat the Archdemon. Even while he plots, a great mystery and a potentially even greater threat looms over the world...
1. Chapter 1: Fate's Thread

Occult Aftermath: Fate's Thread

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June and Sir Perfluous for their OC's used in this fic.**

**Hey… Hey now. Take it easy, you've been through a lot.**

_W-Who… are… you?_

**I've never been with you, this is me taking my freedom!**

_He'll not get to you, I'll make sure of that._

**That's- That was my, my mother's name…**

_Nobody deserves to be alone forever. Especially not you._

**You're crying for me. I couldn't ask anything more from you…**

_They just stole your life away from you… from me. It's not right. It's not fair!_

**I can get behind what she said, but it doesn't hurt for you to use a flashy attack every so often and feel like the rest of us.**

_I'm guessing you're gonna be staying then, right?_

**I need him alive to answer a few questions, after that, he's disposable.**

_Fine, but if I get to him before you, I can't promise anything._

**I think I'm in love with you.**

_I'll tell you how I feel one day, okay?_

How long had it been? Since Saya almost reached him. Since Skuros took his immortality. Since he faded to nothing. It felt like aeons had passed, yet in some strange paradox, like it had only been moments. As the memories of his friends echoed through his head, Joe finally summoned up the strength to open his eyes.

Around him was a strange, iridescent expanse, no end in sight. As he turned around to confirm that his surroundings were in fact infinite, he reflexively stepped backwards as his body tensed up.

"Huh? What the-"

Before him stood three individuals, human in appearance and wearing long flowing white robes. Their appearance reminded Joe of Greek Gods. Two were men, the third was a woman. Each stared deeply at the red ranger before the woman finally spoke.

"Be not afraid, child of the Earth." She said. Her voice was serene, soothing and Joe felt the tension in his body relax as he watched the three.

"W-What are you, where am I? Didn't I die?" He asked.

One of the men nodded. "I understand you have questions. Please remain calm. We are Psychopomps. Divine Spirits who serve to guide the deceased and escort them to the afterlife."

"You now reside in the realm between life and the afterlife. A place inaccessible to those who have yet to die." The second male Psychopomp said.

"Yes, you fell in combat against the Fallen Angel Skuros. He fell shortly after you did and has already been processed by us. His fate was justly deserved." The woman finished answering his question, vaguely alluding to whatever just fate Skuros had earned himself in the beyond.

Joe sighed, his friends did it after all. Then his death wasn't in vain. "So, what happens now?" He said.

The three Psychopomps studied him deeply, as if searching for some unseeable detail to finally make their decision. "Child of Earth." The woman addressed him once more. "You are an enigma to us. Rarely do we commune together like this to speak with a deceased. We three meeting you here, is because you are unnatural."

Unnatural? What did they mean by that? Was it something to do with the Celestial Gear? Joe's mind raced, what was so special about him?

"It isn't because of the Divine Sphere that we call you this." The first man spoke. "Your thoughts are open to us, so please, speak freely." He explained before continuing. "You weren't born like a normal human. One day, your infant self simply materialised onto the Earthly realm. You were found by humans and taken to the Orphanage where you grew up. I'm sure you know the rest."

"Your creation was a perversion of nature. Who by, we simply don't know. Why? Even more mysterious. However, it appears as if your death is no simple matter either." The second man said, his explanation simply adding to the building existential crisis inside Joe's head.

"So that's how it is? I knew I wasn't normal because of the Divine Sphere, but now you're saying that I'm not even a real human?"

The female Psychopomp nodded. "I know it must be hard to hear all this; however, you deserve the truth. Your body was biologically human. Your soul however… it's unlike any other we've seen. We spent days in mortal time amongst ourselves debating your nature. Only to fall on no conclusion."

"Furthermore." The second man said. "As we debated, we felt a twist in your fate's thread. Somehow, your fate has altered. This disturbed us greatly."

"What happened?" Joe asked.

"Simply put, it seems as if you are not meant to ascend as all others do. Instead you're to be reborn; for whoever altered your fate appears to have plans for you in the land of the living. We can't go against the tide of fate itself. It's an unstoppable force and we must comply." The first Psychopomp explained.

"However, this in itself is a perversion of nature. To allow you to return to life, it goes against the natural order of the Universe. Therefore we have resolved to a solution." The woman said.

"Wait! What if I don't want to go back? If someone has plans for me and wants to resurrect me, then it can't be for a good reason. If I go back, then they'd get what they want… I'd probably be a pawn for evil. I won't let that happen again, I can't!" Joe said, the Psychopomps studied him for several silent moments as Joe's distress increased.

"I'm afraid that none can fight fate itself, not even beings like us. That's why we intend to challenge the perpetrator's goals. Or at least, that's what _she_ has decided." The second man said. As he finished his sentence, the three Psychopomps' bodies became ethereal, soon fading to nothing.

"Wait! What do you mean!? Who's she? I'm not done getting answers yet!" He called out to them, yet was met with nothing but silence.

Joe gave a sigh, it was useless trying any longer. Wherever these beings disappeared to, it was unreachable to him. As he waited in the darkness, he blinked once and suddenly found himself staring back at a new environment. Now, he stood inside of a marble structure, he likened its appearance to that of a Cathedral, though it was empty of its furniture and ornate decorations.

Instead of Saints, the stained glass depicted multiple variations of the same long blonde haired woman. Across the centre of the room and leading to the steps was a trailing black carpet trimmed with gold. As his gaze followed up the steps, his eyes fixed upon the slender curvature of the white marble throne and the woman sat down. Her legs were crossed, the higher of the two swinging idly, whilst a glass of golden liquid rested lazily in the palm of her hand as she rolled her wrist, the contents swaying as she did so. Covering her body was a long; black, silken dress. Her hair was long, golden and radiating with light, falling far down far past her body and resting neatly as it grazed the ground. She stared directly at Joe with her two vibrant platinum eyes, a ring of vermillion wrapped around her large pupils. The gaze was unsettling to him but her beckoning free hand compelled him towards her. He began taking steps forward, continuing to observe the mysterious heavenly being. She wore simple golden jewelry, a circlet holding an amber gem crowning her head.

As he walked up the stairs she grinned and gulped down every last drop of the golden liquid from the glass, immediately tossing it aside, disregarding the smashing of glass as it collided with the ground. "Ah, much better. I do enjoy a glass of ambrosia before speaking with beings lesser than myself. So, you're the special little soul. Tell me, how did the Psychopomps treat you? All caught up now?" She asked, sizing up the young man as she uncrossed her legs and stood; stepping from her throne to close the distance between the two. As she walked towards Joe, her hair trailed along floor behind her.

"Uh, sorta. Where am I now and... um, just _who_ are you exactly?" He asked, to which the woman's eyebrows twitched.

"Who am _I_… WHO AM I? You humans are _so_ hopeless! I am Irkalla! Allatu! Do none of these names mean a thing to you? I am the Goddess Ereshkigal, Queen of the afterlife! Were you expecting the merciful Earth mother? Kneel before your better, mortal!" She spat, pointing to the floor with all the force she could bear without unleashing her Divine power and destroying everything before her.

Joe shrugged. "Uh, no offence Lady Goddess but… All things considered, not a fan of Divine beings after all I've been through. That and I'm already dead so… yeah, not kneeling. Sorry."

Ereshkigal huffed and folded her arms. "The dead have no respect these days…" She muttered under her breath. "But enough of this foolery! You now reside in my palace, Ganzir; and you're still very much dead. You see, whoever had the guts to meddle with both fate and death was foolish to try. For one who has died, only certain circumstances may permit them to return to the mortal world. Such as serving another eternally onwards or reincarnating into a new body. Also in service to another. To revive you without any sacrifice… That would go against the very nature of how death works."

Joe reminisced on his friends. Xander was bound to Acumen and the Demon House his family served. Sera was transformed into a Celestial, initially dedicated to the High Heavens and their plots. Would he have to make some oath too? "So, if I can't fight whatever fate has planned for me, then how will I resurrect if it's so complicated?"

Ereshkigal placed a hand to her chin. "It is a matter I've debated with the Psychopomps. They were to simply inform you of the circumstances surrounding your unnatural self and the new fate you've been given." She explained, then jabbing with her finger at the red clad young man's chest. "You're the key to solving this mystery and the threat it poses. That much is obvious, little mortal. However, my duty is to keep those who are dead in the afterlife. If they don't ascend, that's my problem. And you're the biggest problem I've dealt with since my unholy terror of a little sister; Inanna last visited. Unlike her though, you can be of use to me." She said.

As the Divine before him lowered her hand and waited expectant of his response, Joe wondered just how he could be of use to anyone. "You and the three before said it yourselves, I'm just part of someone else's game. How do you think I could be of use to you. Especially after…"

"Ah, yes. I saw that. You were weak enough to fall to a Black Demon. How laughable! I was hoping you would claim Divinity actually… considering the repercussions if you didn't. Unfortunately, as usual, Divines conspire against _my_ wishes. Now the prison I designed had its first ever escape. It had to be the worst prisoner in there, too." Ereshkigal said, running a hand through her long hair.

"Wait a minute… _you_ designed the Gate of Hel?" He asked, coming to the realisation of what she was insinuating.

She gave a casual nod. "Who better to design an impenetrable prison for the worst living in the Universe than the Goddess who keeps the dead where they belong- but enough of this talk! The Gate is clearly a failure thanks to leaving it to Demonic lessers to construct. I swear, if I want a job done right, I have to always do it myself. As for why I need you- you're an intriguing mortal. I watched your life events upon your death, as I do with all beings. Yours was… entertaining. I'm willing to allow you to return, on a few conditions of course."

"Why would you want me to return? Isn't that just playing into the hands of whoever wants me to be resurrected?" He asked, perplexed by the Goddess' reasoning.

Her shoulders dropped as she resisted the urge to bark at the human before her for questioning her superior logic; yet that would be unbecoming of one of her holiness. He didn't yet seem to grasp the whole picture. Even for his tactical prowess, he still seemed lacking. "Indeed, we will be playing into their hands… however, we can use this to our advantage. You will become my instrument in the land of the living, from which we will uncover the scoundrel responsible for twisting fate to their will. Once we do, they will pay dearly. To do so, I'm willing to resurrect you... at least for a time. When we have dealt with the perpetrator, then you will return to my side and join the afterlife."

"So… that means I only have a limited time…" Joe mumbled, thinking deeply on what that would mean.

"Indeed, mortal. Don't fret though. For now, I have a far more attainable goal than catching this culprit. As I told you, a prisoner broke out from a prison _I_ designed. That reflects badly on _me_. You understand, correct?" Ereshkigal asked, glaring at the young man before her.

Joe nodded at the Goddess. "It means you'd be looked at badly by other Divines, maybe some would blame you for his escape and cause your trouble. I guess Skuros did manage to free Lucifer in the end. At least the Dark Angel's gone now like the Pyschopomps said." He took a moment to let that thought sink in. "So, you want me to put a stop to Lucifer?"

Ereshkigal shrugged. "How you deal with him is your business. I simply want him to pay for this insult. Now, kneel before me and we can make our bargain."

She pointed at the floor, waiting patiently. Joe deducted this must've been an egotistical show of force. He didn't want to return while in the state he was. Especially if some unknown force was at work here. At least it was a Goddess working towards the preservation of the Universe's natural order that asked for his allegiance; not the High Heavens and whatever machinations they would have planned to use him in a similar scenario. Biting the bullet of his own ego, he reluctantly knelt at Ereshkigal's feet.

"That's a good boy!" She grinned, ruffling his black hair. "Who's a good boy? That's right, you are! Now let's get you resurrected shall we?" She laughed, clearly enjoying every moment of her patronising performance. Her smile then dropped. "But I will say one more thing, my new servant. One does not simply return from the dead. Your journey to earn this new life, limited as it might be, begins now. I saw how your final fight broke your spirit… you're useless in your current state. Only when you have completed what trials I have placed before you, may you return to the land of the living. Are these terms agreeable?"

_No more of her play acting, she's all business now._ Joe thought as he rose from his knees, meeting the Divine's gaze once more. "Yeah, I'm ready to face whatever you've got."

"Very well, then prove your worth, Joseph; servant of the Lady who rules over death itself!" She took one last opportunity to flatter herself as her hands glowed with intense Divine energy, releasing the cast towards the young man.

As it struck him, his body evaporated into a golden light that quickly dispersed. As Ereshkigal was left along in the throne room of Ganzir, she held her hand to her mouth, stifling a chuckle. "Seems things are getting very interesting indeed."

**[Occult Circle]**

"Lucifer, is this really necessary?" Saya asked.

From the waiting bench inside of the barbers, the High Demon tapped her foot repetitively against the floor.

"My dear." Lucifer addressed her calmly. "Of course it's necessary. I can't create my new world if i'm not properly groomed." He said from the barber chair as a barber swept across the Archdemon's face with a straight razor.

As the barber finished up his work on shaving Lucifer's face, he switched to cutting through the unkempt mane Lucifer had managed to grow in all the centuries he had been kept prisoner in that accursed realm; Muttering about how crazy his customer sounded as he worked.

"Ah, so much better to be out and living freely again. Don't worry Saya, it won't be long until I have what I need to begin my plans. Soon enough you can have everything you want and more." He grinned as the barber chopped away at his hair.

Soon enough, the pair exited the barbers. Lucifer now bounced as he walked, his blonde hair sharp and cut cleanly; an overjoyed grin plastered to his face as Saya followed behind the Archdemon.

"Where to next? Do you have everything you need yet?" She asked, it had been a week of little to no progress since she joined him. Saya waiting idly as Lucifer left her to 'conduct business' with unknown servants. It said everything about how little he trusted her. It was even more likely that the Archdemon simply wanted to use her for her combat prowess, possibly for her rank and station within the Underworld. That was all she was good for after all.

"Not yet, my child. Be patient. I've waited a long time for this, moving each piece delicately into place. Tell me, have you heard of a human organisation known as LARPA?" He asked now watching her for any reaction, any sign that she might lie.

The blue ranger shrugged. "Humans don't interest me. Why? Should I have heard of them?"

Lucifer's shoulders dropped as he read her face and deemed her truthful. "Unfortunate. Nethertheless, they are an organisation that recovers and stores protects artefacts of legendary power from people like us. Keeping them out of the hands of those who would use them for their own gain. I've recently learned of these humans from a certain contact of mine, embedded in their organisation. He finally reported to me that they have what I seek. Right here in Numin's own Museum of Ancient History!" He gestured with an outstretched arm to the large building across the street as they halted to view the Museum.

"A Museum? This is why we came back to Numin and risked exposing ourselves?" The High Demon squinted at the building, just why would any sort of legendary artefact be held inside a place like this?

"Don't you understand yet, my dear? Human museums have naturally high security features, making human thieves easily apprehendable. It also provides perfect camouflage. Think, who in their right mind would store artefacts of power under Museums? Absolutely no one is the natural conclusion. That's why LARPA gets away with it. They hide the artefacts in plain sight. Nobody would be the wiser. Simply put, their logic is solid and their security is the best humans can create. I must say, it rivals even the most powerful wards I've seen. But it won't be enough to stop us. Come then, let us make a visit shall we? I wonder how long these humans can put up a fight for." He chuckled.

Saya hesitantly nodded. _My life, for yours_, her own words echoed. She felt reluctant to attack humans… even if they did have what her master needed to realise his plans. It was too late to turn back, she couldn't give up the chance to see _him_ again.

**[Occult Circle]**

"Ah- g-g-get away from me!" The shrill voice of a teenage volunteer worker cried as inside the Museum, a pack of new, unknown warriors swarmed the entrance.

From head to toe, these beings were clad in crimson plate armour. Crafted from an otherworldly material that seemed to draw in the light around it, their suits of infernal steel were a combination of aerodynamically crafted armour plates, contrasted by the sharp shoulder; elbow and knee spikes producing from the plates. Even from their helmets, two spikes protruded, creating a flat T shape from the top of the helm. The face of the helmets was a single vertical line, coursing with a deep orange energy. Each wielded a sword forged from a vermillion metal, the crossguard complementing the spiked appearance of these soldiers as they attacked.

"Hahaha! Now _this_ is a party!" Lucifer laughed as he and Saya walked into the museum, while some humans managed to flee, the others now struggled against these troopers. "Tell me, dear girl; how do you like the Chthonians? I handpicked these soldiers from the worst who were trapped inside Hel with me. Now I'm free, I can wield some of my power to bring forth those who pledged themselves to me." He explained as he walked through the struggle between the humans and Chthonians.

Saya shrugged half-heartedly. "They're strong, I can see that much. But why bring them along to raid the artefact vault? Wouldn't it be easier to accomplish without such a large profile?"

Lucifer abruptly clasped his hands together. "Who knows? Maybe I just fancied some anarchy today. After all, it's been far too long since I've seen a good bloodbath!" He grinned as he walked further into the museum. "Chthonians, do as you will. As for you, girl." He then addressed the blue ranger. "Make sure that if your friends try to interfere, you stop them. _With whatever it takes_." His voice echoed as he walked away, leaving the young Demon in the Museum entrance, compelled to face her teammates if they dared to fight against Lucifer's goals.

Saya didn't want to face them. She _hoped_ that she wouldn't have to… But the power that the Archdemon had over her was too powerful. She couldn't resist whatever ability he wielded that bent her will to his. She couldn't disobey. She still wanted to save Joe but… not like this. Fight as she might, she was just another instrument through which Lucifer now acted through. His wish was her command. She hated it… but it was futile to fight it.

As the Chthonians prepared to shed the blood of the innocents that helplessly grappled with the plate clad monstrosities, she heard an all too familiar call as her stomach knotted.

"Occult Breakout!"

The rogue blue ranger's eyes fixed on the source of the unified call immediately, her body becoming rigid at the familiar chant. As the Chthonians readied their swords to bear down on their innocent victims and spill blood for the first time in centuries, each was struck with a burst of Celestial energy, knocking them off their feet. When the Chthonians hit the ground, their civilian captives took the opening to flee, leaving Lucifer's minions to fight against their newly arriving foes.

Whilst the Chthonian warriors shook off the stunning power of the Celestial magic and began to rise, five colourful individuals already suited up in their ranger forms, rushed onto the scene. "Glad we got your message about Lucifer's activity." The grey ranger nodded to his companion in white.

"I felt he'd act soon, that's why I called you all together again." Sera said.

"I see, smart of you." Nyssa said as she drew her bow and aimed an arrow at the recovering warriors. "That said, it seems the Archdemon has a present for us."

Ellie shrugged. "They definitely look harder than the Acolytes that Max and I've been clearing from Numin since the Cult collapsed."

"No worries, we'll just sweep through them too!" Max snorted as he hefted his axe.

"Alright everyone, let's take down these new foes!" Nyssa took charge of her four other teammates, releasing the arrow.

As her arrow flew, it struck dead centre in the vertical visor of a Chthonian, yet even with the arrow piercing its eye, the warrior seemed unphased. The other rangers seeing this, moved into close combat.

Wielding her silvery sword-spear in one hand and simultaneously holding her Combat Halo in the other, Sera met the enemy quickly and pounced on the offense. Striking the helmet of the Chthonian before her, she stunned the warrior momentarily, allowing her the opening to strike. With her Combat Halo, she poured her Celestial energy into the weapon before driving it into the armoured chestplate. As she did so, the armour cracked and her Occult ring began to shine brightly. Backstepping, her sword-spear began to resonate with the ring, a bright white aura radiating from the weapon. No matter how strange the occurrence, she couldn't pass on the opportunity she'd been granted and pierced the Chthonian through the broken area of the armour. As she did so, the hot white aura seemed to draw into the warrior and when she drew the weapon from it; the Chthonian appeared to petrify, even its armour turning to stone. Eventually crumbling into a pile of rubble.

"What was that?" Sera asked herself as she looked to her Occult ring. Had it somehow adapted to defeat these new enemies? If so, it did it at an exceptional rate.

Ellie charged towards Max as he cupped his hands to boost the former into the air. As she stepped into his hands and allowed his enhanced Lycanthrope strength to send her airborne, the Vampire noticed her ring also begin to resonate with a crimson light, an aura of the same colour beginning to radiate from her dagger. Hurtling towards her foes, she unleashed one swift and powerful attack that seemed to effortlessly break through the armour of two Chthonians.

Following up from his teammate's attack, Max rushed the two vulnerable Chthonian warriors as his ring and axe resonated with an amber aura. A powerful cleaving motion cut through their remaining defences. Like Sera's attack, it petrified them and soon they too crumbled to rubble.

"Woah, what kind of power is this?" Max said as he looked to the aura, fading now the two foot soldiers had been dispatched.

Xander and Nyssa's rings also resonated in the same fashion as their other teammates, the former piercing his way into the armour before dispatching the Chthonians in the same like his teammates had. Nyssa repeatedly fired arrows, repeatedly piercing the armour of her targets until they too petrified and turned to rubble.

Soon enough, the battle was over, though they had been more difficult than their previous enemy's grunts, they were still dispatchable. As the rangers breathed a sigh of relief that the battle was over, they heard light footsteps across the polished floor of the empty museum. Looking toward the source of the noise.

"No…" Sera muttered as they each gazed upon the other figure walking towards them.

Saya stepped forward, her eyes dim as she looked at her former teammates, she didn't want to face them… but Lucifer commanded her and she _had_ to obey. She couldn't allow them to progress. She needed to ensure that he succeeded. _No matter the cost_.

"Saya, stand down, it doesn't have to be this way!" Nyssa called out, trying to reason with the broken young woman.

The rogue blue ranger shook her head. "I can't let you pass. Lucifer told me to ensure his success. If that means fighting you all so we can succeed…" She brandished her own Occult ring and morphed without a word. As the blue flash of light subsided, Saya drew her cutlass and pointed it at her former comrades. "Then I'll fight you to my last breath!"

**|Occult Circle|**

**Divine Goddess - Ereshkigal - Also known by the names Irkalla and Allatu, she is the Goddess of the afterlife and the one who inspired the Mesopotamian Goddess of the same name. She presides over the dead and acts as the warden between the lands of the living and the afterlife. Ruling from her Palace, Ganzir, she can never directly enter the lands of the living. If she did, it would disrupt the natural order of the Universe. As a powerful and dutiful Goddess, she holds herself highly above any she deems lesser than herself. Her ego however can sometimes overwhelm her sense of reason, such as the pettiness between her and her younger sister, Inanna. Despite this, she is revered among countless other divines for her noble attitude, her ability to endure defiance from others and rise above their plots, even though she could wipe those who defied her from existence with a simple wave of her hand.**

**And with that, Occult Circle: Volume 2 is back! I bet you all didn't expect this Christmas present today too, surprise! So, we've started the next chapter and I enjoyed writing this. I've been thinking long and hard about how resurrection might work since it ties into a long running sub-plot that's just begun this chapter. I eventually went with that its an unnatural process, one which the Goddess of the dead isn't too happy about. Seems Joe however, is on his way back to the land of the living, albeit until whoever is causing an upset to the natural order of things and twisting fate to their will is put a stop to. For now though, it seems Ereshkigal won't be making this easy for him.**

**As for things back in the land of the living. Lucifer's looking sharp, well his hair is at least. And it seems a certain organisation founded in this series' precursor, PR Mythos, has drawn the eye of the Archdemon since they have an artefact he wants. I teased it in my series tie in 'Without Cause' but it was pretty subtle so I don't know if anyone noticed it. As for the Chthonians, they seem pretty menacing but the rangers had an interesting experience fighting them, but it won't be that easy next time, I assure you. Tell me what you think of the new grunts for this series, I had fun designing them. Finally, it seems we're having a face off between Saya and the other rangers. To quote a controversial Star Wars film, this is not going to go the way you think. Hopefully it'll be received better than that though. I hope to get back into the full swing of writing Occult Circle in the new year, for now, thanks for reading!**

**Next chapter: Occult Aftermath: Mourning Heart, Stagnant Soul**

**Synopsis: As Joe begins to face the trials of the Goddess Ereshkigal, he finds his will to fight diminished in the face of the challenges put before him. If he is to return and put an end to Lucifer, he must find the strength inside to do so. While he faces his greatest struggle yet, the remaining rangers now face down one of their own. Will they defeat her and save her whilst also stopping Lucifer from succeeding in his plans? Or will Saya make the ultimate sacrifice for her new liege? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.**


	2. Chapter 2: Mourning Heart, Stagnant Soul

Occult Aftermath: Mourning Heart, Stagnant Soul

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June and Sir Perfluous for their OC's used in this fic.**

As quickly as it enveloped Joe, so did the power cast on him by Ereshkigal fade. As his eyes readjusted to his surroundings, he once again found himself in a new and unfamiliar location. Joe stood in a grassy courtyard inside a large campus. "Where am I this time?" He muttered.

"Oh, I think that's a question best left to your trial host, don't you think dear servant?" Ereshkigal's voice echoed, circling around the ranger.

"Ereshkigal? Where are you?" He asked while her voice revolved around him, disorientating the young man with every moment.

"Oh, everywhere… and nowhere. You know how us Divines are, beyond your mortal comprehension." She giggled in her amusement. "But enough of this. Your test here is to mend the damage that was done to you at the Gate of Hel."

"You mean when I got my ass thoroughly kicked by the Black Demon."

"I mean when the Dark Angel slew you before your friends. I'm a Goddess, remember? I saw everything about you, even those emotions of yours… I know what it did to you to watch as your friends tried to save you, only for them to have to watch you die. What broke in you as that hopeless string of events played out. Now then, I'll be watching intently… let the trial of soul commence!" She declared as her voice dissipated and left Joe with a clearer and more focused mind.

The red ranger turned around, sensing a strange presence from behind. There before him stood a young woman. She appeared roughly his age, probably older by his judgement. Her skin was pale; and she had long, messy black hair tied into a ponytail. Of the bangs framing her eyes, the right was coloured a strikingly bright red. Looking to her wandering eyes, Joe found them to be unlike anything he'd seen, even amongst his non-human friends and foes. An amethyst colour that sparkled brightly in the glint of the sun that shone overhead. Her clothes were a combination of a red tank top underneath a black leather jacket reaching to the girl's abdomen. Vivid red designs marked the sleeves and she wore skinny jeans, a tear in the right leg. Completing the biker punk aesthetic, were a pair of black knee high combat boots. The last thing he noticed was the girl's fondness of silver jewelry. From her small silver hoop earrings and silver ring on her right hand, to the leather bracelet with silver studs wrapped around her left wrist.

_She looks like she'd stand out in a crowd for sure_, Joe summed up his thoughts on the girl stood opposite him. "Uh, you looking for something?" He finally opened his mouth, having noticed her eyes still wandered, scanning her environment.

She shrugged. "Just taking it all in while I can, I guess… Never know when it's your last chance."

"Is this place important to you?" The ranger asked the mysterious young woman.

She nodded. "It's probably one of the most important places I know. Sol Academy. It's where I met some amazing friends and made my best memories. Haha… never imagined I'd miss this place so much." Her face softened and her eyes looked to be holding back a wave of emotion.

"Never heard of it, but if it's important to you and this trial has a host, then…" He quickly deduced, the girl stopping him with a nod.

"I get the gist of it from the goddess lady myself- but yeah. I'm hosting this trial. Didn't even know I could be here for this but, if I can do at least one more good deed for the world, or your world at least… then I'll give it my all!" She nodded and Joe could feel the shift inside her, like a fire had reawakened.

"Good, you've met your trial host." Ereshkigal's voice echoed once more.

"Ereshkigal, mind explaining things here?" He demanded of his Divine patron.

The Goddess unleashed a deep sigh. "In what twisted world does a Goddess such as me answer to her servants?" She muttered. "But it's quite simple. This is Morgana, or what remains of her. She isn't of your Earth; but of one quite similar. The scope of my power isn't limited to one Universe you see. I simply plucked remaining the essence of her being from her reality and used my power to manifest her form for a time. You see, she sacrificed everything to save her world. She doesn't get a second chance like you do. So tell me- No. Prove to me that you are worthy in soul to be granted this new life. For there are others far more deserving and I won't see you squander my gift!" With a boom of her voice, the skies greyed and thunder crackled.

"So you must be some great hero back where you're from?" Joe guessed.

Morgana shook her head. "Far from it… but I still don't regret my decisions. What about you?"

Her question probed deep. Could he really say that he'd lived without regretting anything, without making any bad call? The more he thought about it, the more he felt he was the reason for so much suffering. His death must've been the final nail to the pain he brought to others. "I…" He couldn't be sure of his answer just yet. That's when he felt a warmth spread around his finger and when he looked to his hand, he found the red Occult ring, maybe an imitation, resting in its usual place.

Joe looked towards Morgana, around her once bare wrist, a red device materialised while a red sphere rested in her opposite hand. "Guess she likes to see a show." She said, loosening her neck in preparation.

"Better keep her happy considering who she is. Occult Breakout!" Joe called as he transformed into the red Occult ranger in a flash of brilliant red light.

"Another red." Morgana grinned. "Should be a fun fight after all!" As she inserted the sphere, the device flashed red and her morpher spoke.

++Ready!++

Pulling back on the globe once, the device released a cheerful call.

++Set!++

Putting a finger on the side mounted trigger of her now very obvious morpher, she took in a deep breath and smiled. "One more time." The girl whispered. Joe braced himself as she pulled back on the trigger and a nimbus of red light exploded around Morgana's form, completely enveloping her.

"Star Change!"

**[Occult Circle]**

The clashing of blades erupted into a cacophony of noise that echoed through the Museum entry hall. Ellie and Max attacked their former teammate with their weapons, pushing the girl back with their might. Saya however seemed prepared for their forceful attacks and with a slight adjustment in the angle of her blade, the amber and crimson rangers lost their balance falling to the side.

Her advantage was short lived though as the grey ranger charged at her, wrist blades extended. By her estimation, Xander could be the most formidable fighter thanks to his phasing ability. Unfortunately for him, she knew his tricks well enough by now to nullify that advantage. As Xander met her, the two exchanged several blows, each blocked as metal fought metal. Then he pressed forward quickly, phasing through his opponent and pivoting around. Yet as he prepared to deal his damaging attack, he found himself facing Saya's cutlass slicing across his ranger suit. Sparks flew from his body as he was propelled into the air, caught in a spinning motion before landing on his front with a heavy thud.

"Damn it… guess she figured out my weakness… not bad." Xander groaned.

That was three down, all that was left were the others. Probably the biggest danger to her was Sera. Nyssa though… considering how the blue ranger had reacted to her fake betrayal, she wouldn't blame the Fallen Angel if she tried to tear her apart. _I just have to make sure Lucifer gets what he wants. But if I can't stall them for long enough… I might have to use that thing…_

In the moment of distraction that her thoughts had brought on, Sera and Nyssa attacked simultaneously, both white and black rangers unleashing a rapid torrent of Lightspears and energy arrows respectively. Saya dodged and shielded herself from the attacks, taking several she could endure the sting of when the blue couldn't evade.

"Keep up the attack just a little longer Nyssa, once we're regrouped, we can stop her together!" Sera said to her teammate, who pressed her attack to keep the rogue blue ranger suppressed.

"Enough!" Saya finally growled, unleashing her anger as she summoned chilling blue flames around her weapon and unleashed toward her foes in an arcing motion that released the fire in a wave of destruction, scorching the room around them and decimating Nyssa's arrows. Furthermore, the fire itself caught onto the black ranger's bow, nipping at her hands and causing Nyssa to drop her weapon. The flames soon burnt out and allowed her to collect the singed weapon but it was far too late.

A furious blue ranger now advanced on her opposing former allies, demonic embers were scattered across the scorched floor from her attack as she advanced. Fortunately; Max, Ellie and Xander soon came to the side of their friends in black and white.

"Saya, just stop already! You know we all miss Joe too, but this… It's not what he would've wanted!" Max said. As he tried to reason with her, they all watched with bated breath as the blue ranger stopped in her tracks and stared them down, lowering her sword until the point narrowly missed grazing the ground. They were hopeful, maybe his words managed to get through to her. But they couldn't let their guard down against such a dangerous enemy, even if she was their friend.

"Hypocrites." Her low voice said.

"What? How are we hypocrites? We just want to help you Saya; why can't you see that?" Ellie argued as Saya's sword began to rise again.

"You're all hypocrites… lecturing me about what Joe wanted. I know he asked you all to forget about him, I broke into the clubroom and watched the memory crystal he gave you. So where do you get off lecturing ME!?" She exploded into a yell as she leapt at Sera, the latter ranger barely managing to summon up a Lightspear to defend herself with before the blade the blue ranger wielded could cut her.

"Saya… please stop this already! We don't want to fight you! We just want to be there for you…" Sera tried to break through to her as the Lightspear which she held the Demon at bay with began to crackle and buckle under the blue ranger's own weapon. It wouldn't hold much longer. "Because we're friends, remember?"

As Sera said those words, the lightspear broke, but in a surprise turn of events, Saya didn't follow through with her attack. Instead the High Demon leapt back to her original position.

"She held back her attack?" Nyssa wondered while everyone's eyes were fixed on their friend turned foe.

As Saya stood, dazed by the girl's words, she felt her head involuntarily twitch and a throbbing started in her head. _Whatever it takes._ Lucifer's words echoed in her head as she held a hand on her helmet and shook her head from side to side. "Argh- What the-" She growled.

Xander quickly voiced his concerns. "Something's wrong, I don't think this' over yet!"

**[Occult Circle]**

"Woah!" Joe blurted as he dodged backwards, evading the cutting arc Morgana sent at him. Her ranger suit was primarily red with white sleeves and legs. Red boots and gloves were accompanied by black rings at the cuffs, held in place by thick silver metallic rings. A silver belt separated the short red skirt from the torso. A large planet orbited by two smaller planets adorned in silver was emblazoned the chest while a smaller image of the same planetary body had been engraved into the silver belt buckle. Her face was covered by a V-shaped visor while two curled horns perched on the sides of her red helmet. Morgana quickly returned her weapon back to her side. A katana, pretty fearsome for its speed and cutting power in the right hands. Unfortunately for Joe, he could tell from the first few attacks she'd sent at him that she was worryingly skilled.

"So you gonna keep running our you gonna grow a pair and fight back? You're not fighting some throwaway monster today you know? You're fighting me!" She took a deep breath and held her sword out toward the opposing red ranger. "Soul of the Apocalypse Dragon! Universe Red!" She announced with all the power her voice could muster.

"Enjoying yourself there?" Joe asked as he brandished his rapier at the red Universe ranger.

Morgana raised her arms in a shrug. "Thought if I had one last chance to morph, I'd make it showy."

"Fair enough." Joe nodded a _ready_ to the girl as she thrust at him with his weapon. Thanks to the speed and flexibility of his blade, it managed to keep up with her powerful and relentless strikes, though just barely.

As they weaved around each other, testing their opponent's footwork and probing their guards for any visible opening, Morgana spoke up.

"You've got a chance to go back; so why don't you want to take it?" She asked as their weapons clashed once more.

The red Occult ranger attempted to lunge with his rapier, only for the red Universe ranger to take advantage of the split second his foot lifted from the ground and jabbed him with her katana, knocking him backwards.

"Damn it." Joe gritted his teeth as he held his shoulder where she cut. "Don't know if Ereshkigal told you or not; but something wants to bring me back and from what I can tell, it isn't good at all."

As their weapons clashed several more times in a furious melee, each fighter pushing the other back before losing the upper-hand once more. Morgana shook her head. "I get that. But that's not the real reason is it? Your Goddess friend said something broke in you. So admit it already, you're scared aren't you?" She deduced as the red Occult ranger froze, letting Morgana once again find an opportunity to wound the red ranger. Knocking him in the head with the hilt of her katana, the younger red crashed into the grass. As he shook it off and looked up, he was surprised to see her hand outstretched toward him. "Come on, get up."

"Thanks." Joe nodded, gripping the girl's hand and letting her pull him to his feet. "But yeah… I think I am. I'm not Immortal anymore. If I were to go back… then I'm scared that I'll be useless. What good am I being weaker than everyone else? If I'm holding them back?"

Their martial exchange continued. "You know, you kinda remind me of a friend right now. When I met her, she'd even jump at her own shadow she was that scared." Morgana said, remembering fondly to those simpler days. "But she was holding in some deep pain and fear behind all that. Even so, she's one of the strongest people I know because despite everything that happened to her, she conquered an inner darkness I don't think anyone else could've and came out stronger than ever."

"She does sound like a strong person." Joe nodded as they locked blades and forced them closely together.

"See my point? She's strong. But not because she was physically strong. She's a good fighter, sure. But her strength, it all comes from inside. You might see all your strength being in that Immortality you had but you're wrong! Look in here." The red universe ranger tapped to her chest where her heart is. "And find out where strength really comes from. Now stop holding back, because I'm done playing games too!" She yelled as she shifted her katana and Joe felt a force even greater than before as he dug into the dirt with his heels.

The red Occult ranger was pushed back under the extreme force as Morgana pushed forwards. "W-What is this… power?" He asked.

Morgana laughed. "Surprised you can't tell. This is the sheer force of my determination to win!"

**[Occult Circle]**

As Saya gripped her helmet and shook her head uncontrollably, the deeply concerned rangers could only watch, helpless to stop whatever was happening to the blue ranger and cautious to approach her in such a state.

_Then I'll fight you to my last breath!_ Her own words echoed in her head… finally, she calmed and fixed her gaze on her opponents. "Nice try. It's too late now though Sera. This is the last battle, either you all die or I do. Lucifer said by any means. I _have_ to obey!" She stressed as once again she leapt toward the rangers, her fiery blue sword swinging wildly as it blocked arrows and bolts from the grey and black rangers.

Not standing by any longer, Max leapt into the air, using his own Lycan strength and tackled Saya to the ground. As he wrestled with the blue ranger, Sera noticed a familiar spherical object fall from Saya's suit and slide across the scorched floor of the desolate Museum entrance. "That's-!" The Angel exclaimed as an idea began to form. She hoped it would work. For her sake.

Having finally knocked Max off, Saya rose to her feet, only to see Sera heading toward the object in question. "NO!" Saya shrieked as she charged at the girl.

Turning, the white ranger barely managed to summon her Integration Blade in its basic sword form and block the rogue blue ranger's own sword before it could strike her.

"THAT'S MINE!" She screamed at the white ranger, her breathing heavy and Sera couldn't ignore the intense malice radiating from Saya, directed at the white ranger for her attempt to take the memory crystal left by Joe. His last words to her.

"I don't want to take it Saya… but if I can't get through to you, maybe he can…" She struggled against the nearly overwhelming power of her former teammate, just barely standing against her. "I won't lose you too Saya."

**[Occult Circle]**

As Joe struggled against the forceful attack fuelled by Universe red's sheer willpower, he reflected on her words. _Something inside… My own inner strength… If that's what's important…_ suddenly it clicked. Here he was facing against a powerful force that he couldn't stop or fight back against… but if he wasn't there for it to be focused on; then she'd be vulnerable until that attack came to an end. Taking a chance, he stopped pushing and leapt up high over his opponent, spinning in the air as he landed to face his opponent.

He'd overcome the hurdle, now all he needed to do was finish it. Taking his Infinity Saber, he charged it with energy and struck toward the exposed back of Universe red. While it wasn't as powerful as when he was alive, it was everything he could muster. That's what mattered. Joe's eyes went wide however as a sharp ringing of steel sung through the air and he felt a push knock him off of his feet and to the ground once more.

When the red Occult ranger looked up, he saw the blade of Morgana's katana pointed toward him. "Looks like our little fight's over." She decided, lowering her weapon and offering her hand.

As Joe took it, the two felt their power disperse as their ranger suits and weapons disappeared alongside their morphers. "Yeah… good win." He lowered his head, it was a great fight and he understood now. Thanks to the duel and what Morgana had said to him, he wasn't that scared anymore; of what the future could hold.

"You too!" She grinned. "Gotta admit, you almost had me there, guess I should thank my friends for being so great I trained my butt off to keep up with them. Don't worry about the fight, I've had practice with tricky attacks before. That doesn't matter anyway now. Trial's over."

"Wait… me too? What do you mean good win?"

Morgana grinned. "My job was to get you through this trial of soul. That's what I did and I count it as my win. Doesn't matter who won and lost the fight, that was just to get you to realise the truth for yourself a lot sooner. You won the moment you remembered how strong you were inside and used that against me. You took a big risk and in a normal fight, it would've paid off." The girl stifled a laugh. "I sounded like Macha for a second there- Anyway, you get it right? This trial was all about finding that inner strength again. So you're a winner in my book!" She nodded with a smile.

Joe returned the nod. "Thanks. I was afraid of going back but now, thanks to you, I think I can do it. But I still don't want to give whatever this is what they want. What would you do in my situation Morgana?"

The red Universe ranger shrugged. "I'm not you… I can't tell you what to do but there's a reason I'm like this. Stuck as whatever you call what I am now." She gave a sigh and looked up to the skies of the simulated Sol Academy as they parted to make way for the sun once more. She closed her eyes and basked in the warm glow. "I made a choice… I sacrificed myself to seal another great evil away. There was no other way to stop it." She took a deep breath. "I don't regret it but to be honest, I'm kinda envious of you right now. You get to go back to everyone you care about, live again…" She paused, a single tear rolling down from on of her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Joe asked as the other red clad teen looked back toward the sun in the sky.

She nodded, wiping it away. "It's fine. Like I said, I don't regret that choice and I'd do it again if I had to. I just wish I could see them all… one more time." She said as her voice began to fade and to Joe's shock, her body began to disappear.

"Morgana? What's happening!?" Joe asked, as the now translucent figure looked to him and smiled.

"Guess my time's up. Even for that Goddess, keeping me like this for so long must've been a strain on her. Thanks Joe, for giving me this chance. To be a ranger again. To save someone one last time. It's been a blast!"

Joe smiled back to the fading form of the girl. "I'm glad I met you…" He paused. "And Morgana!" He quickly caught her attention as her body faded further. "Don't give up hope, You'll get to be with your loved ones again too."

"How do you know?" She asked, almost completely faded.

"Call it a feeling… from inside!" He called as the girl's form vanished with his last words. He hoped his words reached her, after all she'd done for him in their brief meeting, it was the least he could do. "Guess that's it then."

"Yes, and that was quite the show my little servant! How entertaining. You humans have a knack for combat. To witness two warriors go head to head like this, I must say it's been a rare treat! Especially all of that dialogue you had between maneuvers. I'd ask for an encore but sadly my powers do have their limits. It may be of relief to you to know that the trial host is okay, even in her non-physical state, she still lives on as a presence of sorts in her world." She praised the performance of the two reds.

Joe gave a sigh, relieved to hear that wherever Morgana was, she's going to be fine. "That's good to hear. So, what's next?"

"Well done, you've passed the trial of the soul and come back stronger. But it won't be as simple as that to claim your new life. Yes, I think we'll focus on _that_ next." She said cryptically.

"What's _that_ mean?" He asked but his answer fell on deaf ears. "Of course, she's probably planning on surprising me like she did this time. Why did I pledge myself to her again?" He groaned as he was enveloped once more by the light of Ereshkigal's magic and was whisked away from the simulated Sol Academy and to a new, unknown destination.

**[Occult Circle]**

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" The now berserk blue ranger screamed as she hammered away ferociously against Sera's Integration Blade.

"I don't want to let you feel like this Saya, just let me show you… I know you haven't watched what's on that memory crystal. If you had, you wouldn't be feeling like this. Just let me help you see what Joe wanted to say to you!" The white ranger pleaded.

"NO! THAT'S ONLY FOR ME!" She screeched. She was completely enraged now. From the rear, Nyssa drew her bow and aimed it at Saya as she began to charge energy into the weapon.

"Nyssa, what're you doing?" Ellie asked, concerned as the black ranger adjusted her aim and focused all her effort into landing the perfect shot.

"As much as I hate all this… if we don't do something soon, Sera's gonna die and I won't lose another friend." Nyssa said, focusing the last of the energy as it built up into a powerful single shot.

"I understand." Xander nodded. "I hate this too but… there's no other way. Do it Nyssa."

"Wait-!" Max tried to protest. He was one second too late.

Nyssa released her bowstring and the high powered energy projectile sailed through the air and hit its mark. Saya let out a gasp as the projectile exploded upon impact and flung the rogue blue ranger hard against a support column. The ranger was thrown high by the blast and slid down the column until she rested against the floor and her protective ranger suit finally gave out. She had a few cuts and her clothes were singed, she appeared to be in rough shape now the fatigue of fighting her former teammates had caught up with her.

"No!" The white ranger cried out but her fears were short lived as the blue ranger looked up at the black ranger and slowly began to rise.

_Whatever it takes_ Lucifer's words once more thudded deep in her head. And she let out a deep breath. "To my last breath… I'll be with you soon." She muttered. The rangers watched cautiously as she produced a sleek black dagger.

"What's she doing now?" Ellie asked, concerned as the dull eyed Demon held the weapon out in front of her and began to chant.

"Great being, one who lies within the void." She began as a horrible realisation set over Xander.

"No, she's going to-"

"Hear the plea of one with nothing to live for." She continued the chant.

"We have to stop her _now_!" The grey ranger expressed the urgency, he knew what would come otherwise… and what it would mean for Saya.

"One who is willing to give their Infernal soul in exchange for your power! Your power to aid me and fulfil my goal." Saya recited, there was no turning back for her. Lucifer's words were too powerful to resist and there was no other way to defeat the other rangers now. She was otherwise spent and she _couldn't_ fail Lucifer, it wasn't even her decision now.

"We're too far away, we'll never make it in time!" Max protested, their distance was indeed to far to stop Saya before she reached the end of her chant. But one of them was close enough that maybe-

"With this vessel, I sign our contract and grant my soul unto you eternally!" The blue ranger had almost finished the chant, soon enough, the ritual would bring forth the end, for them all.

"Sera, you need to stop Saya from finishing that chant now!" Nyssa called out to her teammate who gave a nod and started running toward Saya across the hall of the Museum's entrance. The white ranger hoped she could reach her in time.

"Now taste of mine blood and allow me to embody thine Avatar as I call your name." Saya said as Sera ran with all haste she could… but the battle had made her weary and as she got closer, she felt the fatigue taking over.

With one decisive thrust, the black vessel pierced Saya's Stomach and blood began to run from her open wound as she spoke the final two words of the ritual. Sera stopped wide eyed behind her helmet, having almost reached the blue ranger. But it was too late. She took one last look at her friend in blue and saw as a pair of tears dropped from Saya's eyes and splashed against the blackened ground as Sera watched the Demon mouth a single word to her.

_sorry_

"Black Demon!" Saya finally announced as she was surrounded by a maelstrom of pitch black fire.

The flames gathered and intensified, knocking Sera several feet back as she cried out in sheer terror for her friend. "Saya!"

**|Occult Circle|**

**And with that, chapter 2 has come to a close and Occult Circle is officially back! Now we had a special guest star in the form of Morgana Ravens, Universe red from my friend decode9's Power Rangers Universe, thanks for letting me borrow her! If you have the time, I'd highly recommend you check it out along with their other works. (I also created Universe blue if that sells it any more.) They offered up Morgana recently if I wanted to use her and I thought she'd be a perfect fit for getting Joe back up on his feet in this and maybe inspiring some hope in her for the future too since this is the post-final battle version of her and some things happened that resulted in her current situation. I won't say more though since I don't know all the details myself yet since the series is still ongoing. Our other big plot point was of course Saya versus the others and wow was it a rollercoaster. Saya is quite the fighting machine and I think this chapter is the best example of that to date and the up and down emotional nature was just the icing on the cake for me. Then we have that ending. So, Saya took the same bargain as Salch and if you remember, that didn't go too well for him. Question is, will I kill off Saya? Feel free to hate me as much as you want right now for doing this but don't worry this battle, for better or worse, will end next chapter.**

**Honestly, I really enjoyed writing this since it was pretty much all ranger vs ranger along with character moments I really enjoyed. Writing Morgana was an added bonus since I got to play around portraying another author's creation and I hope I did a good job with her. That's all from me for now and hopefully I'll be back to play with everyone's emotions in the next chapter very soon. Until then!**

**Next Chapter: Occult Aftermath: Goodnight, Love**

**Synopsis: The worst has happened. Saya has cast aside everything to fulfil Lucifer's mandate to her. Caring no longer for her own life, she invoked the Black Demon's avatar into herself. While Joe faces his next trial, the remaining Occult Rangers face an impossible task, defeating Saya before she destroys them all. Is their friend truly without hope of being saved? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.**


	3. Chapter 3: Goodnight, Love

Occult Aftermath: Goodnight, Love

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June and Sir Perfluous for their OC's used in this fic.**

Sera hit the ground hard, rolling across the floor as the force from the vortex of flames around Saya knocked her away. Moving to their teammate, the other rangers gathered around the Angel and helped her rise to her feet.

"You okay?" Max asked as they released the girl to stand by herself.

Dusting herself off, Sera looked toward the bleak inferno that had taken their friend. "Yeah… but I wasn't fast enough…" She said.

They all felt that same failure, it was too late and now they'd have to fight whatever she'd become.

As the flames exploded into a wave that hit against the rangers and threatened to knock them back, the rangers struggled against the wind-like resistance from this powerful ritual spell and then it subsided, leaving the rangers to face the Avatar of the Black Demon. Before them stood a humanoid figure unrecognisable as their rogue teammate.

Clad from head to toe in black armour fitted to a feminine figure, the seven foot tall being was masked in a helmet sculpted to the visage of a Demon's face. The Avatar possessed in her hand a large bardiche made of black metal and quickly did the sharp yellow eyes hidden behind the helmet lock onto the rangers; the Avatar unleashing a glass shattering shriek before raising the weapon and swinging it at her foes.

"Everyone, scatter!" Nyssa issued a quick order to her friends as she rolled out of the way, drawing back her bow and releasing an arrow, which was deflected by the Avatar's armour without leaving a single mark. "Damn… this won't be easy."

Xander had quickly ducked behind a support column. As he caught his breath, he called over to the others. "She's invoked something called the Black Demon into her to become an Avatar… I've fought them before in my work for Acumen and they're extremely dangerous. We can't let our guard down for a second!"

"Is there any way we can stop this, save Saya?" Ellie asked as she dodged a sweeping attack, leaping up over the bardiche.

Xander shook his head. "Not without killing her."

**[Occult Circle]**

_Drip… Drip… Drip…_

That's the only sound she could hear, across the silent void she'd found herself in, that dripping of water was the only thing… But eventually she heard something else. A voice.

"Why… why did you let this happen? Let Lucifer control you like this? Fool you into doing his bidding." The voice called out across the void, it was familiar to the girl in the empty space, hands wrapped around her knees as she hugged them to her chest, sat in the darkness unblinking.

"Because he promised that we'd get rid of this painful world… I don't want to live in such a place that has so much pain- so much loss. I can't lose another person… I just can't!" She answered the voice. "Why are you asking me these questions?"

"I came to watch over you, make sure you didn't do anything you'd regret." The voice said.

"Those words…" Saya muttered as she finally blinked. Where had she heard them before?

"I suppose I was too late, to stop you from going over the edge. Now we're sealed to the fate you chose."

"...I chose this? I didn't want to… but Lucifer's words were so strong and I'm just so weak. How could I resist him? Saya said.

"Weak? Why do you think you're weak?" The voice asked her.

"Because… because everyone I love leaves me eventually. Because I couldn't take it anymore. I can't live in a world where I'm always left behind… where every good thing in my life comes to an end."

"Oh? So that's why you damned yourself. Didn't you consider how they might feel? Your friends fighting the Avatar using your body right now?" The voice inquired once more, her interest growing in the girl's words.

"I… why? Why do you keep asking me questions like this?" Saya said, looking around the empty space for any sign of another person, yet no other was present.

"I-I want to help you get back to your normal self. If you keep going like this, you'll just dig yourself into a deeper pit of despair than the one you're in now. You'll get worse and become something that you're not." Her words echoed and hit Saya with another strange sense of familiarity. Whose words were they?

"But it's already too late… It's already over, all I have to do is let the Black Demon win. Then I can see Joe again." The blue ranger shook her head. Her fate was already sealed.

"You're willing to let them die then? Just for your own selfish goals? Look at them Saya! Can't you see they're fighting to save you? You still have something, so don't let it slip away!" That familiar but equally unkowable voice raised her voice.

Saya stood up and looked around frantically now. "Why do you care!? Just who are you!? Why is it so important to you that you're trying to convince me to give up on him? ANSWER ME!" She screamed into the blackness. Her eyes went wide with shock as a figure materialised before her, smiling serenely. "You're…"

The figure opposite her nodded. "I'm you Saya." The voice said, now clearly that of her own as the blue ranger looked upon the doppelganger. "I'm the part of you that hasn't given up yet."

"Then those words…" Saya thought back to the familiar phrases her double had said. "I said them…"

The other Saya nodded. "That's right. Back when Joe lost himself, you said those same words to try and get through to him. You were the one to raise him up to the surface of the blackness that consumed him. I thought I could do the same for us."

Saya shook her head and turned away from her other self. "Those words won't work. Just let us fade away… You're me so you should want to be with him too, why can't you understand-"

"Because I do Saya!" The other her snapped. "I understand everything you're feeling. That doesn't mean we should give up! We still have friends that want to help us. There still could be a way to save Joe, please have some hope… Something you can hang onto." She pleaded with the despairing Saya but was met with silence. "Fine. If you won't listen to me, then maybe you'll listen to them." The other Saya said.

She waved her hand over the blackness and a small window faded into existence. Saya turned her head toward the sudden light and saw the battle against the rangers through the window into reality. She saw her friends fighting and struggling against the Avatar from the latter's perspective. As it struck Max, knocking him back against a wall, Saya's body tensed up. She hated seeing her friends get hurt… but why was she just feeling like this? Why didn't she feel this way when fighting them earlier?

"Lucifer's power can't affect us here. What you're feeling is real." The other Saya said immediately after the first girl pondered those thoughts.

"So that's it… I guess I-" Before she could continue she saw a flash, a memory as clear and as powerful as the day it happened.

She remembered running to Joe as his body disintegrated into motes of golden light… and the last word he ever said to her. "Why…"

"Why… Why didn't you save me?" Saya clutched her chest, her heart beating rapidly as she heard those words. Is that what he was going to say? Was it all really her fault? Why?

**[Occult Circle]**

"Here? Why pick here for the next trial Ereshkigal?" Joe asked as he found himself back where this strange journey had begun. The Gate of Hel, or at least a replication of it. The Goddess now stood beside him in material form.

"Because it was where you were crushed by the Black Demon Avatar that Salch Phoenix became. Your confidence as a fighter ended here. This next trial will determine if your repaired spirit is enough for your fighting ability to shine once more."

"Who's the host of this trial then? Some great warrior from ancient times?" Joe said, while the Goddess shook her head and smiled.

"For the trial of the body, I will be the host. Didn't expect that you'd be facing the beautiful, noble, glorious, revered by all, me; now, did you?" She grinned as her silken black dress swirled around her and transformed into polished half plate armour of black and gold while in each hand rested a polished curved sword, the blades of the same black metal with hilts made of gold. "So little mortal, are you ready to face the untold power I wield?"

Joe felt his own Infinity Saber materialise in his hand. He gave the Goddess of the afterlife a shrug. "Going a little overboard don't you think?"

Ereshkigal chuckled. "My little sister may also have domain over aspects of war, so it's reasonable to think as her opposite that I would have the means to bring peace, don't you think? Such is the case, that peace can sometimes only be brought about through putting an end to war quickly by fighting. I loathe bloodshed, all the unnecessary deaths it causes…" She said.

As the Goddess paused and looked off to this distance, Joe could understand her feelings. The sacrifices made in the war against Skuros were many on both sides. Allies and friends fell or suffered wounds that would stay with them forever. It was an ugly thing to be a part of. "I'm sorry, you must have dealt with a lot of people who died in war… It must've been tough."

Ereshkigal nodded. "I've never had much chance to converse with one being for very long, but you're starting to grow on me, servant. Thank you for your kind words, but rest assured, I'm used to death and those caused by war are no exception. I just wish these conflicts didn't have to be. But that isn't the nature of our universe. Our universe requires conflict and that's why I resolved long ago to become a strong fighter. I am far stronger than anything you've faced as a result. Now come, let us test your resolve in a battle you'll never win!" She raised her swords and goaded the red ranger into attacking.

Taking the bait, Joe lunged and tried to slip through Ereshkigal's guard "I wouldn't be so sure about that, right now… I feel like I could take anything on!" He exclaimed as he thrust forward, aiming to strike the Goddess' armour.

His eyes quickly went wide as she stepped back and knocked aside his blade effortlessly and grinned. "Well if that's all you're capable of, why should I waste my precious time fighting you?" She said, hoping the red ranger would take the taunt.

"If that's how it is… Then take this!" He said as he charged the rapier in his hand, the blade glowing with red energy.

Releasing it, the energy arced out toward her, Ereshkigal shrugged before it hit her and erupted into a fireball, a cloud of smoke soon forming over the area. As Joe released his breath he started toward the smoke cloud, hoping to find the Goddess lying on the floor defeated.

"Hahaha! Do you really think a weak attack like that could defeat me?" Her voice came from behind him. As Joe turned to meet her, he just barely brought his sword up to block the dual blades, an inch from his face. Ereshkigal shrugged. "Good reflexes but it was foolish to let your guard down. This isn't like your fight with Morgana, understand? I'm not holding back and neither should you. The only way I can bring peace with my power; is to put an end to conflict quickly. I'll do the same here if you don't show me everything you're capable of. Now try harder!"

As she finished, she withdrew one of her swords and cut Joe across the side, leaving a gash that to his surprise, didn't heal. As he held his side and gritted his teeth to hold in the pain, the Goddess withdrew, leaping back a few meters and waiting for him to strike again. He would have to deal with that pain for now and still somehow find a way to beat the odds. Whatever happened next, it was clear to the red ranger that this was a fight like no other… and it just got a whole lot harder.

**[Occult Circle]**

"Crap… We can't hurt this thing at all!" Ellie said as she slid across the scorched floor and sliced the Avatar's leg, quickly leaping into the air and flipping over an attack from her bardiche. As she landed, she slid to a halt as the Avatar focused her attention on her. Ellie looked to the place she had struck but unfortunately, there wasn't a mark.

Max jumped in the way of the bardiche as it came crashing down near Nyssa, using his axe to block the weapon, yet it proved to be a struggle as she strained to push back against the weapon. "Nyssa, go! I'll keep her distracted until you've relocated."

She nodded a thank you and made a tactical retreat to another part of the ruined entrance hall. From her hiding spot, Sera panted heavily. The white ranger could see that this battle was stretching her friends to their limits too. They needed a way to put an end to this battle and quickly… before the worst could happen. That's when she spotted it.

"Everyone!" She caught their attention as she spoke into her ring. "I might have an idea, please keep the Avatar occupied until I get the memory crystal!" She conveyed her intent before leaping over the the desk she hid behind and charged toward the object at the other end of the large room.

The Avatar quickly spotter Sera and unleashed a deafening shriek as she swept the ground with her bardiche. The white ranger managed to quickly take flight and narrowly avoided the attack as she glided toward the device.

"Hey Avatar!" Nyssa caught her attention as she fired an arrow into the helmet of the Avatar. As she did so, however, the Avatar struck with terrifying speed, the bardiche slashing into Nyssa and slamming her into the ground.

Ellie and Xander maneuvered to defend the black ranger, raising their weapons to block the bardiche as it swung once again. They weren't strong enough to resist the attack however as the two cried out while the bardiche cleaved them and sent them tumbling to the ground.

"Ellie, Xander!" Max cried out as he unleashed his bestial instincts and transformed into his Lycan form. Rushing over to his friends before they could be attacked again, he snarled at the Avatar as she brought back her devastating weapon for one final attack.

"I've got it!" Sera announced to the other rangers as she picked up the memory crystal. She gasped as she saw her friends lying on the broken floor "Oh no…"

Max howled and leapt as the Avatar swung. As he bared his claws mid-air the bardiche struck his side and a high pitched whimper escaped him as he was flung across the room and collided with another support column. As he slid to the ground, he failed to get up before collapsing and reverting to his ranger form.

"Max… Everyone… I'm sorry…" Sera said as the Avatar fixed her eyes on the girl and stomped toward her, preparing to attack the white ranger too. "Saya!" She called out at the bloodlust fuelled Demon, hoping she could break though to her friend inside. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you… But please, if you're not going to listen to me… then listen to him!" She said as she pressed the switch on the memory crystal.

As it activated, the Black Demon struck Sera mercilessly with the Bardiche, knocking her off her feet and the crystal from her hands. As she lay there, watching the crystal roll across the floor and the Avatar bear down upon her, ready to finish this, she hoped with all her heart that this could work.

"Hey Saya." The calm voice of the fallen red ranger spoke. As it did, a holographic image of his face projected from the device. At his words, the Avatar stopped and looked to the projection. Sera smiled weakly under her helmet, it seemed to be working. "By now I'm already gone… But please don't blame yourself. You're probably hurting right now. I know how that feels. There's been enough pain in the lives of all our friends already. None of you deserve that. But I knew, when Gomory told me the clock was ticking… that all this might happen. So I created these as my goodbyes to you all. I had so much more I wanted to do with you and all our friends. But there's only one thing that mattered." He paused and took another breath in. "I didn't know what to say when you confessed to me. But now I do. I liked you too Saya… I just wish I could've told you while I was still alive. I wish I could've been there for you… But I couldn't risk you or anyone else getting hurt for the sake of my happiness. Maybe if things were different… I said I had so much more I wanted to do, but there's only one that mattered. I wanted to spend more time with you. Please, don't hurt for me… I don't want to see you sad. Just remember, I'll always be with you in your heart. Now go live a life full of happiness… for both of us, okay?"

**[Occult Circle]**

"..." Saya let out a barely audible sound out as she reflexively clenched her fists and stared at the window into reality. The memory crystal had flickered and shut down upon the final words of the recording.

"What's the matter?" The other Saya asked. "You decided this is what you wanted. To put an end to this world and bring about Lucifer's vision. Why get frightened now? You've gone so far already, why regret it all now? No point getting upset now, is there? Panicking won't change what's already been done."

"But at this rate… everyone… my friends are going to-"

"Die? That was your whole reason for this, correct? Let the Black Demon loose, finish the job you can't in exchange for your soul. Your friends out of the way would allow Lucifer's plans to succeed unhindered. You wanted a result like this, I believe?" The other Saya deducted.

"I thought you were the me that hadn't given up, why are you speaking so Nihilistic?" Saya asked her other self.

The other Saya smirked as she looked her original self in the eyes. "Because it's the only way to make you see. I thought it was enough to let you hear your own voice… but I was wrong. You needed to see how you acted to realise it. We should thank our friends for showing us his last words too, don't you think?"

"I-I understand now… He told them all to forget about him but… He didn't mean it in that way. He just wanted to ease the pain so we could go on with our lives… Please, other me. I don't want them to perish at the Avatar's hands anymore, can't you do anything to stop this?"

The other Saya's face softened and she shook her head. "I'm sorry… I'd like nothing more than to stop this… to save us. I'm just an aspect of you Saya, one that acted because you pushed me away. I can't do anything more than stay by your side. It's you that has to act."

"But I gave it all away… How can I do anything now? I don't know how to save them. How can I save them when I still want to save Joe?"

"Listen to yourself. You threw away a gift so precious as life in an effort to save someone who's already gone. I want him back too, but we both know it's not possible, is it? Please, you already know what you need to do." The other Saya reasoned.

"...I just…" Saya paused and looked to the window. To her friends and the Avatar at a standstill. "I'm scared."

"So am I, because I'm you and I feel what you feel. You're not in this alone, we're always together… but the first thing you need to do is believe… believe in you. Care about yourself. If you want to save them, we need to want to live."

"But I want to. I need to so they don't die! I don't want to hurt my friends anymore!" Saya protested. Her doppelganger wore a calm face as she shook her head.

"Not for anyone else's sake. We need to live for our own. So open your eyes!" She exclaimed as the other Saya slapped the original across the face.

The blue ranger felt the sting along with the familiarity of those last words. She'd said them too; to Joe that time… When she refocused her attention on her other self, she found the girl to be absent.

"W-Where'd you go!?" Saya cried out. "I still need you, don't leave me yet!" She begged.

"Remember, I'm you. I've always been you… all you had to do was open the door… now we're one again." Saya spoke in reply to her own demands. It was strange, like she wasn't the one saying those words, yet at the same time, it was definitely her. "Go on, open the door to your future." She said as a small wooden door appeared before her.

The blue ranger hesitantly reached for the handle. It was cold to the touch, with a gentle turn, it opened and… The girl found herself in a familiar space. Her own home opened up before her and that's when she saw a figure, so strange, so familiar. It quickly walked toward Saya and soon stood directly opposite the girl, holding out a hand.

Saya froze and looked upon the woman whose face was so much like her own. "Mother…"

**[Occult Circle]**

"You're slowing down. Need a break? I know you mortals are very fragile, so rejoice in my kindness to permit a brief hour of rest before we continue." Ereshkigal swung her weapons around idly while the red ranger breathed in deeply.

Joe shook his head. "No, we can keep going… I can do this." He said, affirming his resolve to keep fighting for as long as it took.

Ereshkigal shrugged and gestured for him to attack. The red ranger charged her again, his rapier crackling with energy once more, as he brought the sword down for an overhead slash, she crossed her dual swords into an X block, effortlessly catching the weapon. Pouring only the slightest of her Divine power into her swords, she slashed across Joe's rapier and in a split second, the blade broke off, flying through the air and stabbing into the ground.

While the red ranger was stunned by her surprise use of her power, she kicked the red ranger in the chest and knocked him to the ground. As he lay there, Ereshkigal stood over him and held her swords against his neck. "Seems you've been defeated. Unsurprising but not disappointing. After all, you did hold up against me longer than most other mortals. But that's not what's impressive."

"I have no idea what you mean by impressive, this is the second time I've gotten my ass kicked in a trial… Guess I'm not fit for this after all."

"No. Your fighting ability wasn't at question here. Like I said, I was testing your resolve and you didn't give up. When I put my swords to your neck, that would've meant your end. But you didn't beg for mercy or cry. You accepted the defeat and you learned something, didn't you?" She explained as she withdrew her weapons and allowed the red ranger to stand.

Joe nodded. "That fight against the Black Demon I lost was tough. You were even tougher and I had no chance of beating you. But I still had to try. When I was fighting you, I could see ways of turning the fight against you but… I'd need my friends to do it. I realise it now… I shouldn't have gone after Skuros alone. I'm stronger with my friends around me to help. Thanks for helping me realise that Ereshkigal… I mean it."

"Oh my, finally some gratitude? It took you long enough. Now, I believe you have what it takes to return to the land of the living after all." She smiled as her swords disappeared and her armour transformed once more into her fine black dress.

"So that means… I can finally go back?" Joe said. He was hopeful, he'd completed two trials before him but Ereshkigal's neutral face confused him. "Right?"

Ereshkigal simply shook her head. "I'm afraid that isn't all you must do. There is one more trial ahead of you. If I returned you to life now, I see you may very well die once more. That would be inconvenient. If you are to return, you'll need a new body. One strong enough to stand against those who work against my majesty." Ereshkigal said as she radiated with golden light and with a flash, she was gone.

"Wait!" Joe called in vain, once more he was too late, once more he found himself in a new place. Mountains of bones rose from the rocky ground around him. As he looked at a mound of bones, he tensed up. "Impossible! Is that… the skull of a Dragon?"

**[Occult Circle]**

"Mother?" Saya asked as she looked at the older woman.

"Sayakriel, you finally showed up." Saya couldn't move, shocked at how she could be here. "You came to see me again, didn't you? So come on already little one, you're going to come with me, right?" She asked, holding her hand out to the blue ranger.

"I-uhm…" Saya hesitated.

"We're family, so we should only be together at the end, right? Come on, take my hand darling." She insisted, her hand stretched out further. Saya stepped back, holding her breath as some primal fear rose up inside her. "What's wrong? You don't hate your own Mother do you? Come here!" She said. Her insistence formed a knot in Saya's stomach.

"I… don't hate you Mother. I still love you so much…"

"So then stay with me my dear girl!" She insisted with her hand. Saya didn't move an inch as the visage of her mother continued to insist.

"I'm sorry… I can't go with you…" Saya finally answered, her Mother's features tightened.

"Why? Do you really hate me after all? Is that it Sayakriel?" She snapped at the girl.

Saya vehemently shook her head. "No. I love you so, so much!"

"Then why won't you take my hand?" She asked, her voice cold and her face giving off an uncomfortable sense of malice.

"Because… you're just a memory. You died a long time ago. I'm sorry. You'll always be in my heart… But I can't stay with you. You're still behind me… I have to live my life facing ahead."

"But what about me? Another familiar voice spoke from behind. She turned and almost had to stop herself from tearing up when she felt a swell of emotion deep inside.

"Joe… You're here too?"

"Of course." He smiled. "This is what you wanted isn't it. To be together forever. I can make it happen. Just take my hand." He said as he stretched out his hand toward Saya.

She felt her hand begin to move by itself. "This is what I wanted for so long. To be with you, to find out what your last words meant…" She quickly snatched her hand back. "But I finally get it now. You didn't want us to hurt. That 'why' wasn't about not saving you. It was about us crying out for you!"

_Why the long face? Don't you know smiling suits you best?_

"But I'm here now, so neither of us has to fear a thing anymore. Just take my hand and we can go to a better place. Or are you just going to forget about me?" He asked, Saya could almost hear the venom in his voice as he too insisted on her taking his hand.

"I won't forget you Joe! I'll never forget you! But you're gone and maybe there's still a chance for me… At least until the Black Demon claims my soul… A chance to make sure everyone else is safe! You're still the dearest person in my heart… but you died too. I don't want to use you or my Mother as an excuse to keep myself stuck in the past… Like it or not, I have to face the future without either of you! I promise, you'll always be with me, I'll never forget you… But I can't stay with you, not any longer."

Joe's face contorted to anger. "I don't understand! Why, why can't you stay? Why won't you take my hand? I can't understand it at all! Why go back to that place, where you lose people, where your heart experiences such turmoil? Stay with me and you wouldn't have to experience any of that." He said, trying to convince her while still offering out his hand.

"Because you're not really him… Sorry. I'm going now. To face my future." She said as she walked toward the front door, opening it to a bright white light. She turned back one final time to the figures wearing the faces of her loved ones. "I love you… but this is it... Goodnight, love."

**[Occult Circle]**

Five minutes. Ever since the recording of Joe had stopped, the Avatar had been frozen for five minutes. The rangers had just barely recovered from her onslaught and now stood together once more, weary from the fight. They'd reverted back to their civilians forms, unable to sustain their ranger powers any longer.

"Is it over?" Max panted, holding his side, his breathing sporadic but he was holding it together.

"I… don't know. I've never seen this happen before." Xander said.

As he finished speaking, another powerful vortex of black flames coiled around the Avatar and in another instant, they vanished, leaving Saya sat on her knees in its place.

"She's-" Nyssa started as Sera ran forward to check on the blue ranger. Each of the rangers shortly followed after the girl in white.

"You're alive!" Sera cheered as she locked a hug around the battered blue, squeezing her tightly. The Angel was taken aback when the Demon surprisingly reciprocated but soon continued the hug.

As the others gathered, the two girls released each other and rose from the ground. Saya hung her head low but soon summoned up the courage to meet her friends' gazes with her own. "I'm sorry everyone… For everything I did. I was just so blinded by fear and loss and it was all too much… Lucifer took advantage of that and forced me to fight you all, to the death if I had to. I realise how wrong I was now- and I know I don't deserve forgiveness but I want you all to know; before it's too late… That I'm truly sorry for all the trouble I caused you."

Nyssa shook her head. "It's alright Saya, we know. We know how much pain it caused you. Lucifer manipulated that and you're not entirely to blame. Even if you made those choices, you know now… so we're all happy to call you a teammate again, if you're willing." Nyssa offered out a hand to the blue ranger.

Saya stepped back and shook her head. "I can't…" She muttered.

"What do you mean you can't? Saya, it's okay, we forgive you. Just please come back to us!" Ellie begged.

"She can't because it's already too late." Xander said, his voice grim as he began to explain. "The Black Demon ritual sacrifices the host's soul in exchange for becoming an Avatar of its power until they've succeeded in their goal. It's suicide. Once they've returned to normal, it won't be long until their burned up by their own Demonic energies. I've seen it before and there's no way to stop it." He hung his head low. "I'm sorry Saya."

Saya nodded. "It's okay, I already knew when I started the ritual. I thought it would bring me to Joe but… It just made me realise how wrong I've been, where my place in the world is. How ironic that now I'm about to disappear from this world, I'm left with no want more than to stay here… by everyone's side." She said as she looked to her hand as it ignited with her signature blue Demonic fire. Then the other hand caught alight.

As the fire spread over her body, the rangers looked with solemn faces. "Saya, please don't go! You can't leave us again!" Sera cried out.

"It's okay… I want to live too but if this is my fate… then I can't deny it. I was stupid but at least I got to make amends with you all before the end." She gave them a calm smile. "Guess that other me was right, I should've never given up on any of this. Thanks everyone, for doing your best to save me." She said as the flames tore across her body and engulfed her form. As she gave out a pained cry and dropped to her knees, the others turned away their gazes… until the agony of their friend came to an end.

When they found the courage to finally face what, if any remnants of the blue ranger were left…

Sera's eyes brightened up. "She's-"

The blue ranger was still standing, her breathing heavy.

"There shouldn't be anything left, how did she-" Xander wondered.

"It must be some kind of miracle." Ellie smiled, relieved to not have to say goodbye to another friend so soon.

Max grinned and breathed a sigh of relief. "At least she's still with us."

Nyssa nodded. "There was no way I'd let another friend go that easy… So I'm glad I didn't have to drag her back from wherever the universe would've sent her."

Finally, Saya opened her eyes and looked at her friends, whose faces while initially relieved, soon appeared perplexed. "I'm alive?"

**|Occult Circle|**

**Lucifer's Army - Chthonian Soldiers - Handpicked from the worse prisoners that the realm of Hel had to offer, the Chthonians are equipped with the finest weapons and armour the forges of the sub-Infernal realm could offer. Impervious to standard weapons, only magical based attacks can break through their armour. Whilst some are easily defeated by a standard influx of magic from such attacks, most can only be destroyed by weapons enchanted with powerful magic. It is because of this that most are impervious to all forms of resistance and make the perfect shock troopers to carry out Lucifer's plans.**

**Black Demon Ritual - Avatar Variance - The Avatars of the Black Demon can be of many shapes and sizes, it varies from host to host, based on the unique traits of the host such as species and gender, to the wish they make and the obstacles the Black Demon needs to overcome to succeed in its goal. It is because of this each Avatar is unique and purpose built, to ensure it never fails and that the enigmatic Black Demon may claim the soul of the host upon completion of the Contract.**

**That's Chapter 3 at an end and I apologise for not giving a little lore segment at the end of the last one, an oversight on my part. So here's two to make up for that! So this chapter has been my favourite to write so far. I liked writing the fight between Ereshkigal and Joe and him proving himself worthy to her. It seems he's got one last trial ahead of him though and I wonder if you can guess what's next for him based on the teaser. But by far my favourite part of this was everything that happened with Saya. Clearly the fight was going to go only one way. That internal struggle though, facing herself and reconciling. Finally letting herself move forward from the pain that's been holding her back. I loved writing it so much and I hope everyone enjoyed reading it too.**

**So, seems she's done the impossible too and survived. How is that? I'll let you all guess since it's more fun that way. But as you'll see in the next chapter, her survival hasn't come without a pretty interesting cost. I was going to write for another fic first but when I got the inspiration recently for how all this was going to go down. Well how could I resist? But I'll get to that soon. That's all for now and I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter where I conclude the prologue. Yeah, this was all just setup for the major conflict. You won't guess what comes next. Until then!**

**Next Chapter: Celestial Burst**

**Synopsis: The battle is over, Saya has overcome herself and through unknown means, her soul hasn't been claimed by the Black Demon. But the fight isn't over. Lucifer is still after an artefact that can spur his plans into motion and the Occult ranger must stop him. However, with their heavy injuries, can they do anything against the Archdemon? As they attempt to, Joe faces his final trial. Will he prove himself worthy of a second chance at life? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.**


	4. Chapter 4: Celestial Burst

Celestial Burst

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June and Sir Perfluous for their OC's used in this fic.**

"I'm alive?" The blue ranger asked as she looked at the faces of her friends. As they looked at her though, the wore concerned looks for the girl. Only moments ago they had been overjoyed to see she'd survived. "What's with everyone, why are you looking at me like that?"

Nyssa released a drawn out breath as she figured out the best way to put this to her teammate. "Saya, your eyes… they've changed."

"Changed? What do you mean changed? Don't tell me there's something wrong with them." She said, her concern growing with each passing second.

"It's less something's up and more like they've lost their pigment entirely. Here, take a look." Ellie explained and took out a small hand mirror and passed it to the Demon.

As Saya held it up to her face, she froze. Her teammate was in fact right, her eyes now bore no pigment. Unlike the deep ocean blue they were before, her irises were now pure white, barely distinguishable from the whites of her eyes. "So… I guess the Black Demon took something after all… Why that of all things?" Saya asked, but there was no simple conclusion to why the powerful entity took that instead of her soul.

"I don't intend to cause you any more panic; but to survive the Black Demon ritual… it's never been done before. Perhaps there's more to this price than what we can see right now, so I think we should be vigilant about any more potential changes." Xander said, presenting his theory and the concerns that came with it. The thought was unpleasant and hung heavy on them, but they needed to know all the consequences, in case this was just the beginning of it.

Saya relaxed and returned the mirror to Ellie. "It's fine. At least now, I can stay with you all; If that's the price to keep living with my friends, then it's one I'm willing to pay." She said with a smile.

"Well I'm glad you're not going anywhere Saya, your new spooky eyes aside, it's good to have you back!" Max clasped a hand on her shoulder and nodded.

The blue ranger returned the nod as she addressed the rangers again. "I'm glad to be back as well. But now isn't the time for celebration. Lucifer, he's after something hidden under the Museum. If we don't stop him first, who knows what kind of untold chaos he could cause." She warned them and began to walk towards the corridor Lucifer had left down.

Before she could get far, she felt a hand clasp around her wrist. The Demon stopped in her tracks and turned to find the white ranger keeping her there, she had kept tight lipped throughout the conversation concerning the sudden and strange transformation the blue ranger's eyes had gone through. Now though, the Angel had decided to intervene before her friend hurt herself trying to stop the Archdemon. "Saya, wait… You're too injured to go after Lucifer right now, please leave this one to us!" She said, hoping her plea would get through to her teammate covered in cuts and bruises and clad in tattered, scorched clothes.

"You don't know what Lucifer is capable of. I've seen his power before, when I was travelling with him." Saya's features softened. "Thank you for your concern Sera. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid of facing him. I'm scared he'll use his power again to make me fight you- but right now, all that matters is stopping him. I've accepted what happened to Joe. But I won't let his death be in vain and allow Lucifer to succeed again!" The blue ranger said, her voice strong and determined as she made her declaration.

Sera released her grip around her friend's wrist and smiled. "I'm glad you're back to your old self Saya. We're not letting you face this alone though. We'll follow your lead, right everyone?" She called over to their other friends who were approaching.

Though they were all battered and bruised from the battle with Saya and the Avatar she had manifested, the interruption of the battle had given them time to recover enough energy to keep going. None of them knew if it was enough… still, they had to try. No matter what, they couldn't let Lucifer get what he wanted. Saya saw that same determination in each of their friends and nodded at the group.

"Then let's put a stop to the Archdemon's plans here and now. For Joe." The blue ranger said as she turned around and led the way to their showdown with Lucifer.

**[Occult Circle]**

"What the- how's that even possible?" Joe said, letting his thoughts flow audibly on the off-chance that Ereshkigal was present and could shed some light on the place he had found himself in and why the boneyard he aimlessly traversed was littered with the skulls and bones of Dragons. Unfortunately, the Goddess seemed absent from this plain or even refused to respond to the red ranger.

He quickly found himself at the foot of a huge slope of bones, there seemed to be no other path open to him other than to scale up the steep incline. Joe took a deep breath and began to climb. While the skeletal remains seemed relatively stable, the red ranger had to keep his pace steady, especially when he gripped or stepped on a loose protrusion in the wall of remains. As he lifted his arm up to the next outcropping, he gripped the bone firmly and pulled, only for it to slip from it's spot. It forced him to lose his balance and almost fall off after putting his weight onto the surprisingly loose bone. He swung to the side, his footing having slipped, leaving the ranger dangling by an arm.

Joseph took several deep breaths as he dangled and swayed. "Woah… that was a close one." He said as he prepared to grip the hole where bone had slipped out of, the young man's eyes widened. Before he could, a whole upper section of the wall crumbled away, bones flying from the edge of the necropolis-like wall. He kept a tight grip on the handle in the wall as it crashed down beside him. Joe let out an elongated breath, relieved it was over and for more, seemed to have levelled out a section of the upper wall that was on a steadier incline.

"At least I don't have to climb the wall of death anymore." Joe said whilst gripping ahold of the edge of the new level plane and pushing himself up onto the flat surface. Now the journey was much easier, he climbed the steady slope quickly and arrived at the summit of the cliff of bones.

Joe grew tense as he looked before the expanse. "It just keeps going…" He muttered as he walked forward, not knowing how to progress with the endless ground of skeletal draconic remains before him. "What is this place? Why did Ereshkigal send me here?"

Before he could ponder these questions further or calm himself as he ambled through the boneyard, there was a sudden shift in the air. It sounded like a great beating of wings and the already dull sky seemed to grow bleaker as a shadow passed over the red ranger. Joe's body tensed and he instinctively raised his hand to call upon the powers of his ring.

Though as he did, he suddenly remembered that the source of his ranger powers was absent. Even so, his fighting instinct was setting off an alarm in his head. "Uh… Ereshkigal? If you're listening, I could really use my ranger powers back right now!" He waited, hoping she would answer his plea but it was met with silence, shortly followed by a terrifying roar that erupted from above. "I _really_ need them and I _really_ hope you're listening right now because I think I'm in some big trouble here!" He pleaded with his patron and hoped his request wasn't falling on deaf ears. Unfortunately his time to prepare soon ran out as he saw a creature glide low through the air ahead of him before slamming into ground in front of him. The crash of whatever creature caused a quake and as Joe tried to keep himself steady, the bones beneath the creature cracked and kicked up something akin to dust that clouded the area before the red ranger; forcing him to shield his eyes as it dispersed.

When it cleared away a huge red beast stood on all fours, its wings folded away as its bright orange reptilian eyes studied Joe and a deep guttural sound erupted from its throat.

Joe froze, no matter how much he wanted to move his body in that moment and run back from the way he'd come, he was too paralyzed by fear in that moment to move a muscle. Instead, he could only mutter a few words. "Is that… a Dragon?"

And as he spoke, the Dragon opened it's gaping maw, revealing its fearsome row of serrated teeth and it spoke, it's voice booming across the expanse of the boneyard. "What are you doing in _my_ domain!?"

**[Occult Circle]**

Deep within the storage basement of the Numin Museum, the dead silence was broken by the clacking of shoes that echoed through the aisles of stored relics, both regular and those of a more supernatural nature. As the Archdemon walked the unguarded halls, he adjusted the ill-fitting suit he had acquired from the LARPA agent at the entrance to the basement that was foolish enough to even attempt to stop Lucifer from acquiring the item he wanted. Lucifer chuckled at the thought of a human getting the better of him. "Awful fashion sense though." He said whilst looking at the garish yellow shirt that contrasted horribly against the black suit while a stripy green and gold tie hung from his neck. "I'm starting to think keeping the rags on would've been best. And square toe? Who the hell wears square toe shoes? That fool is lucky I didn't end his life since I'm in a bit of a rush, but the next time I see someone commit war crimes against good fashion… well, Father won't be able to help them." He grinned at the sadistic thought. As he walked along, he carried an itemized list of artefacts, his eyes darting between it and the numbers on the shelving units as he walked nearer and nearer to an open space in the centre of the basement.

To alleviate the boredom of his search, the Archdemon began calling out the names of artefacts he passed. "Key of Solomon… nope. Good read though." He said as he passed by the container it was sealed inside.

"Odysseus' bow… not that either, wonder if it still lives up to its legend." He gave a chuckle, it wouldn't have mattered given most non-humans could wield it with ease. It just went to show how weak most humans are that only their strongest could string and fire the weapon.

"Empyrean armour. I haven't seen that in aeons." Lucifer said as he passed by the fully displayed set of golden armour with its proto-Celestial design and ancient rune carvings.

"Ooh, the hand of King Midas… I'll be back for that one." Lufice eyed a quite secure container littered with warning labels concerning its danger. "Ah, here we are." He finally said as he stopped at one unassuming box. "Honestly, my plans lucked out to find one so soon." He said to himself as he effortlessly picked up the box with one hand and carried it to the open centre of the basement that the many shelves converged upon.

As he entered the centre, he casually flung the box into the air and watched with joyful eyes as he maintained his silence, grinning at the random chaos of it all as the box crashed back down to the ground and broke open. The Archemon held back his laugh as he approached the broken remains of the box and retrieved a small but ornate pyramid, inscribed with golden runes written in Celestial script. "Here we are, one express ticket straight to the High Heavens. Oh the things I could do with this… unfortunately it only has one use to me right now." He said, but his train of thought was quickly interrupted by the urgent footsteps quickly racing towards him.

"Put the relic down now Lucifer!" Nyssa commanded the Archdemon as she and the other six rangers arrived to put an end to their nemesis' plans.

Lucifer's grinning face turned to the rangers and soon dropped as his focus turned to the blue ranger who stood with them. "Et tu, Saya?" He said as the joy disappeared entirely and he stared her down with his now stony gaze.

"I'm done fighting for you Lucifer! You manipulated me, tried to get me to destroy all my friends and myself… for what? Some half hearted promise to bring back someone we all care about dearly? To save someone who wouldn't want us to hurt over him and always wanted what was best for me? You used my pain against us all Lucifer… I'll never forgive you for that!" Saya declared defiantly against the Archdemon.

He grinned again, this time though, it was much more like a predator eyeing his prey. "Oh you foolish girl. You think you have a choice. _Saya, you will stand by my side and help me destroy your friends._" He commanded, an uncomfortable feeling set over the other rangers as he said those words, the same as their first encounter with him.

But something was different this time. Saya could hear it now, the strange white noise behind his voice when he spoke that way. That must've been why she'd had that strange compulsion to obey before. He wasn't just manipulating her, it was outright mind control. She felt the anger and frustrations at this revelation spike up inside her- but instead of succumbing to that she took a deep breath and stared Lucifer down. "Looks like your mind control trick doesn't work on me now." She said with a defiant smirk as the confidence drained from the Archdemon.

"Impossible- I'm supposed to be able to bend your kind to my will! How can you defy me?" He asked, somewhat panicked by the loss of control over the blue ranger.

"I'm not certain… but if it means that I choose how I honour the people I've lost… then I'll defy you to the very end!"

Lucifer soon composed himself however and gave a low chuckle. "That can be arranged little rangers. Come at me then. Let's see how strong you really are. If you're lucky, I'll give you a front row seat to enjoy the grand opening of my ultimate plan! It's going to be quite _explosive_." He laughed as he tucked away the Celestial device and gestured for them to attack.

"Occult Breakout!"

"Celestial Breakout!"

The rangers chanted as they morphed, weapons in hand as they charged the Archdemon and prepared to fight against their most difficult opponent yet. Though they were battered and bruised by their fight against the Avatar, the six of them had found their second with and were determined not to let Lucifer win.

**[Occult Circle]**

"Um… hi?" Joe said quickly, opting to go with the first thing that came to mind when faced with a fire breathing dragon staring him down and demanding to know why the red ranger was there. Ultimately his brain had failed him in this endeavour and he had drawn a blank. Not truly knowing his own reason for being there other than by Ereshkigal's will, it would be difficult in this moment to explain to the Dragon before him of everything that had transpired since his death.

"Are you deaf mortal creature? I asked you a question! Now answer me!" The Dragon snarled and gritted its serrated teeth.

Joe felt the eyes on him grow hungrier, and as dead as he already was, the red ranger didn't want to risk becoming Dragon food any time soon. "Uh- well, the thing is… I don't know, I just kinda showed up here I guess?" He acted as confused as he actually felt. "A Goddess by the name of Ereshkigal sent me here but I honestly have no clue why."

The Dragon pondered it for a moment, examining the small being before him and even taking a deep sniff of him. "I have never heard of this Ereshkigal. You… have the stench of death on your form. You are not of the living, are you?"

Joe shook his head. "I died… not too long ago and then I was sent here for, well… something; I don't know what or where here even is." He said.

"You have found yourself in a graveyard. The place where the bones of my kin collect and become a monument to the death of all Dragons. Tell me mortal, what do you think of the legacy of my people?" The Dragon said as another guttural sound rippled through his throat while he examined the red ranger, head tilting from side to side.

"Uh… I don't know what to say really. All these bones piled up for who knows how far… it's pretty tragic. I fought against a Dragon once and my friends helped defeat it. There was some sort of taint plaguing it and it wasn't going to stop until we put it down. So I know how fearsome your kind can be… what happened to you all?" Joe said, as he asked the Dragon his question, the mighty red beast closed his eyes and took a moment to recall all that had transpired that had led to his people's downfall.

"Long ago, before Human or Empyrean and any others that may have lived, Dragons were the dominant species on Earth. We ruled over all, for we were the apex being. Some of us even held Divinity and surpassed those who call themselves Divines today, even. But even so, there was a war between us. The First Son had become corrupted and orchestrated a cataclysmic war that led many Dragons to early graves. Once it was over, our species had lost its progenitor and we were left with no way to continue our race. Only some Dragons can live forever; and many eventually died of old age. Our dwindling race was overtaken by rising civilisations, some that hunted us. As we became fewer in number, humanity rose up and many of my kin fell before their blades. Now in the modern day, only a handful of us still live… Those that were smart and those that could live indefinitely so long as they weren't slain. I was once Aceldrac, an Emperor Dragon, trusted to lead and protect my kin. Now though, I'm just an Emperor of ash and bone…" The ancient red creature said, his voice filled with sorrow at the loss of his people and their near total extinction at the hands of time and needless slaughter.

"I… can't imagine what it must've been like to go through all of that. To have everything and then to lose it… I think I get why I'm here now though." Joe said to Aceldrac as he nodded. "When I died, my friends lost me. I don't know what they're going through right now but I don't want them to feel the same way you do about the loss of your people… that's why I want to help you too."

Aceldrac drew his head back and looked at the tiny human before him. He didn't look afraid of the mighty lone Emperor Dragon before him, instead he had an odd look of determination in his eyes. "What help could an insignificant creature offer me. Leave me be mortal! I will remain here until the last of my kin finally joins this graveyard… my people's fate is already sealed."

Joe shook his head vehemently. "I understand loss. Maybe not on the same scale you've experienced it but I still know what it's like! To lose your whole world like that… I understand. But that doesn't have to be all there is! You're still alive right Aceldrac? You're still living but you're not moving forward, you're waiting here for what? Why are you still mourning that loss? You're this strong Emperor Dragon still right? If you're worried about the death of your people then you should do something about it! Reach out to the Dragons still alive and find a way to keep on living! For all those that couldn't make it…"

Aceldrac snorted. "You're a ridiculous human…" The Dragon said as it turned away and faced the endless miles of bones, the monument to those he had fought for, those he had lost… Aceldrac then turned his head back to Joe. "But you may have a point. It has been far too long since I was my old self. Truth be told, I've been a coward for centuries. Waiting here for the day when my kin die instead of trying to save them… hm. How foolish of me. Very well. I will return to Earth, perhaps my once might people could find some form of redemption some day… so that our kin didn't die in vain." Aceldrac finally resolved and lowered his head in thanks to the mortal who had convinced him to try again.

As Joe returned the nod, he heard a slow clapping echo out from behind him. Turning, he saw Ereshkigal as she walked toward both him and the Dragon. "Well done servant. You passed your final trial."

"Just out of interest, what was the purpose of this trial exactly?" Joe asked as the Goddess of the afterlife frowned.

"Always with the questions and so little gratitude… why did it have to be this mortal out of all others to have their thread of fate played like a fiddle?" She said in a mutter before addressing Joe directly. "Truth be told, I was deciding on the best course of action for granting you a new body. What kind of being could you be to effectively carry out my will? Then I decided that you would reincarnate as a Dragon. Just a basic Dragon since I don't want to make it seem like I'm playing favourites among my servants. It should provide you ample protection of course." She casually explained as Aceldrac's eyes narrowed.

"You! Your aim is to transform this mortal into one of my kind?" He asked with a low growl.

Ereshkigal gave an unconcerned laugh. "Don't think your threats scare me little lizard. But yes, I think bestowing the form of a Dragon upon his reborn self should come in handy. I just needed to see how he'd encounter this final problem. May I say servant, you did quite an interesting thing here. I hope your efforts pay off." She smiled at Joe and nodded to the Dragon. "As for you, I have a proposal. My servant here will need some guidance in his new abilities. You're not the wisest but you'd do well enough to teach him. So, what's your decision?"

Aceldrac thought it over for several moments. It was asking a lot but it was also asking to tutor the first new member of his kind since the loss of the progenitor. "Very well. At the least, it will be a good first step, now I'm on the path to redeeming those of my kind who still live." He agreed and rose onto his hind legs, clenched his clawed hands on his front limbs and spread his wings out, unleashing a bellowing roar into the skies of the Dragon graveyard. "I will find you in the land of the living mortal- no when next we meet we will be kin, you and I. Until then." Acelrdac beat his unfurled wings and lifted off into the skies to set out on his path back to the Earthly realm.

"Uhm… bye I guess." Joe said, still quite stunned from the revelation of Ereshkigal's intent. "So… you're turning me into a Dragon… with scales and teeth… and wings… and fire breathing?"

Ereshkigal chuckled at his struggle to come to terms with it. "Calm down mortal. Don't you know? Dragons have something called an Origin form, it's suspiciously similar in appearance to a human. The only real difference is that you can call upon your powers and revert individual body parts back to their Dragon form at will. Your body will be able to take quite a lot of punishment too, perfectly suited to carrying out your duties in the name of your glorious patron, don't you think?"

Joe sighed as he tried to prepare himself mentally for this next phase. It was going to be an adjustment- but if he got to see everyone again and find out who was trying to use him and for what ends… he was prepared to go through with it. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Very good! Now kneel." Ereshkigal smirked and pointed at the ground. Joe resigned himself to the Goddess' amusement and complied, she soon placed a hand against his forehead as her hand lit up, transferring a portion of Divine energy into Joe's incorporeal form. "Now, be reborn as fate wills it… and serve me in your new life!"

Joe felt his head go light as she removed her hand from it and soon felt drowsy. His vision faded to black and he fell onto his side as his soul made to transition from the in-between and returned to the land of the living…

**[Occult Circle]**

Lucifer unfurled his six crimson wings as the rangers charged him. He quickly brought a wing in front of him to shield his body as several arrows flew from Nyssa's bow in quick succession. As they struck the wing, Nyssa held off on attacking further as the arrows deflected off of the crimson feathered shield without leaving so much as a dent.

"Hahaha! Your weapons are of no use against me!" Lucifer said as he took off and flew through the air, catching the black ranger by the throat and lifting her up. As he flew up to the roof of the basement, her redirected his course and plunged directly down, slamming Nyssa into the ground and leaving a small impact crater as the stone cracked under his strength.

Unable to withstand the strength of the attack, Nyssa's ranger suit dissipated in purple motes of light, leaving her temporarily out of action as she struggled to move. Caught up in the range of what the Archdemon had just done, Max and Xander attacked simultaneously. Before they could use their weapons on him, Lucifer conjured forth a strange crimson energy that looked to be almost a synergy between Celestial and Infernal magic and shot it at the amber and grey rangers. Xander attempted to phase shift and allow it to pass through him before continuing his attack, yet as it passed through his form, it caused him excruciating pain that forced him to to floor and to revert to his normal earthly phase. The two quickly passed out from the direct hit of this unknown power and their ranger forms also dissipated.

"What the- that power of his managed to hit Xander even though he phased through it. Damn, Lucifer's no joke. Guess there's a reason people fear the Devil." Ellie said as she utilised the abilities of the knight chess piece to move in quickly and cut Lucifer.

As she went to strike, she was surprised as her dagger grazed past Lucifer's head. His own movements were too fast even for her. This wasn't good at all. "Watch the hair please, I just had it cut just the way I like it and I don't want an amateur ruining it." Lucifer grinned at he blasted the crimson ranger with his Celestial/Infernal magic and knocked her to the ground, forcing the Vampire out of her ranger form.

"Lucifer, I won't let you hurt my friends any further!" The blue ranger called as she spread her own wings and flew up high. She focused deeply, trying to concentrate as much of her Demonic magic as possible but as she did… unlike any previous time, no flames drew around her sword. "What? Why isn't it working? I have to-" She struggled further, but it was of no use. "Nevermind, I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way." She said as she flew down and stuck out her foot, preparing her feint. "Leviafang ki-" She froze mid-air as she felt a hand clasp around her foot. She looked down to see Lucifer hovering, her foot gripped in his hand and the Archdemon grinning malevolently.

"Oh little Demon." He said before throwing Saya into the ground with the same terrifying force he had done to Nyssa. As the wind was knocked from her lungs and Saya's morph gave out, the Archdemon floated to the floor and walked up to her. "How about I show you what a real kick feels like?"

_Kick_ "Guh-" Saya gasped as Lucifer struck her in the gut and knocked the wind from her lungs. _Kick_ "Gah-" The blue ranger gasped again, Lucifer wasn't showing any mercy for the girl as he grinned in sadistic joy while winding up another. _Kick_ "Khh…" The sound forced its way out as she struggled to stay conscious from the pain.

"You see, this is what you get for defying my will. You stupid little girl! Hahaha… You actually believed everything I said back then. It was worth a shot to try and manipulate you one last time before we thought. Unfortunately it seems you won't obey me any more. I can't have that. If one Demon wrests themselves from my control, others can too. Don't worry, I'll make sure the evidence of that possibility is… disposed of." He grinned with glee as he wound up another kick.

He drew his leg back but as he did so, felt a hot stabbing pain emanating from his chest, and then looked down to see that a Lightspear had pierced

his body from behind. "Hahaha… Well played, little Celestial." He turned to face the white ranger who tried to steady her breathing under the stress of seeing her friends so easily beaten by the Archdemon. "But I don't need to fight you to put you out of action. After all, I hate it when family fights, don't you?"

Sera charged up another Lightspear and aimed it at Lucifer but paused. "W-What do you mean family?" She said, still trying to control her breathing.

"Oh she hasn't worked it out yet… but for simplicity's sake, we're related by our kinship of Celestials are we not? In my eyes, all Celestials are my family. I just happen to be the black sheep." He said as he drew the pyramid artefact from his pocket. "But the thing is about family, sometimes they'll get in the way of you doing what's best for you. I'm sure you've experienced it yourself." He said with a knowing grin.

Sera froze and her Lightspear dispersed. "What do you know?"

"Oh, Sera… I know so much now I'm out. It'll be fun seeing how it affects you as you find out the truth." He said as he focused his energy into the pyramid and the artefact began to float.

The corners of the device separated and floated out six feet in the direction they pointed as the device flew high into the air. It began to resonate with celestial energy as the core of the pyramid exploded into a large portal and Sera looked from behind her visor in shock as a view of a towering structure near one of the great cities in the High Heavens displayed itself inside the portal's image.

"What are you doing Lucifer? Are you trying to return home?" She asked, hoping his plans weren't as diabolical as she suspected.

"You see, that tower holds all the sealed away Celestial Gear, which are very important to the next phase of my plan." He explained, grinning all the while as he reached ever closer to the climax of his monologue. "The High Heavens as much as I hate to do this, also need to be moved out of my way for a while. That's why I poured an unstable amount of Divine energy into this!" He continued as he produced the Divine sphere, which seemed to surge with energy, unable to contain it all. "The rest… oh why don't you sit back and watch. How about I say a dramatic line to mark the occasion too… let's see. Ah!" Lucifer sucked in a breath and put on a facade of a serious face to compliment his choice of words. "Let justice be done, through the Heavens' fall."

**[Occult Circle]**

Archangel Michael walked the tranquil streets of the Heavenly city he had chosen to visit this day. News of his brother's return had weighed heavily on his mind since he was informed. He knew his remaining siblings hadn't taken the news lightly either. Gabriel for one had hoped that this could lead to some form of redemption for Lucifer, maybe one day reconciling and amending the past. Of course, Michael believed that was impossible.

Given he was the one that cast their brother down into Hel, he felt that his brother was already too far gone and that the Archangels should motion to act immediately against him. Though if they went without their Lord's strength to aid them, Michael worried it wouldn't end the same way. He had come to the quiet gardens of this City in hopes that he could find some clarity on his next move, yet it seemed for naught. As he turned toward the great tower rising near the outskirts of the City, he recalled of his failure to protect Joe and stop Skuros from obtaining the Divine Sphere…

He was an imperfect being, Michael thought. To have failed so often, he didn't know why his Lord hadn't done something about his own imperfections. He had envied Lucifer for all his perfection when he stood among his brothers and sisters. Ironic now that he pitied the twisted thing Lucifer had become. As he stared off at the great tower that housed many other Celestial Gear artefacts, he wondered what the Archdemon's plans were.

Then, in a bright flash unlike anything the Archangel had seen, Michael had his answer."

**[Occult Circle]**

"No…" Sera said, her voice barely a whisper as her ranger form dissipated and she dropped to her knees. She failed to hold back the tears in her eyes.

The portal now displayed a horrific sight. Where once a beautiful Celestial City had sat harmlessly in the High Heavens, now only torn up buildings, eradicated flora and a collapsing tower could be seen.

"What did you do… why…" Sera struggled to speak trying her hardest to keep herself together in wake of seeing all that destruction.

"Well, it's quite simple. Now the tower containing the other Celestial Gear has been destroyed, they'll all fly out from its ruins now they're unbound from the spells that kept them there and return to Earth. You see, the Celestial Gear aren't specifically Celestial in origin. They're just called that to prevent people from prying. As for why I just decimated a big chunk of the High Heavens… My plans require that Celestials don't interfere and I figured using a bomb of pure Divine energy would set them back far enough to keep them from getting in my way for quite a while. Hahaha, I can't wait to see the look on my siblings faces when they see what chaos I've just gifted them. As for the Celestial Gear themselves, Oh I'm going to have so much fun with the chaos that'll inevitably come from their use. But my work here is done. Goodbye for now, Power Rangers. Hahaha!" His manic laughter lasted until his crimson aura sigil teleported the Archdemon away, leaving Sera to watch in horror at the disaster in the portal one last time as it shut down.

As she sat crumpled on her knees, she didn't notice the other rangers who had come around to see the aftermath of Lucifer's devastating blow against the High Heavens. Saya held her stomach as she walked over to the girl and without a word, knelt down and wrapped her arms around the white ranger as the latter began to sob loudly.

"I'm sorry Sera… I'm so, so sorry… I screwed up and this…"

"It's… okay…" She said through her cries. "I froze… it's all my fault… Now everyone in that City… Why didn't I try to stop him?"

**[Occult Circle]**

It had been barely a day since the chaotic event that shook the Heavens. The destruction had been so rampant that it had even caused strange weather effects across the Earthly realm. Thunder and lightning storms had cropped up in many places across the globe. Places that to those in the know, are bridges to the Heavens itself. Hyperion Falls seemed to bear the brunt of it, yet fortunately there were no human casualties.

The weather had an eerie calm about it now as Saya sat in the classic car that Gabriel Cadia drove along the dirt road toward Lake Numin. Despite everything that had happened and the obvious strife that her friend in white was feeling, she still had one last thing to attend to before she could face the future head on and what consequences her survival had brought with it.

Shortly, the car came to a stop and she disembarked alongside Gabriel, the English teacher holding a small wooden float with an unlit candle resting inside it.

"Thank you Mr. Cadia… for coming with me to do this. It means a lot to have someone who knows my culture enough to help with this.

Gabriel nodded. "It's only right… I lost another kid myself with Joe's passing. I think it'll do us both some good to say goodby this way. I know your powers aren't working right now so I brought a lighter too." He said, handing her the cheap plastic lighter as they walked to the water's edge and he set the float down into the steady lake.

"I'm glad I had the chance to meet you Joe. I'll never forget anything you taught me, about being a good person, about myself… You were the best thing to ever happen to me. I wish we could've had longer and that we… could've been together. But I'm grateful for the time we had. You'll always be in my heart." She said as she finally lit the candle and pushed it off to be carried by the light current.

As the candle burned, the wood around it caught fire and soon the whole object was covered by the flames. Saya and Gabriel watched in silence remembering the good times they'd had with that strange but wonderful and heroic young man, hoping one day, that they could see him again.

**|Occult Circle - Volume 2: Celestial Combat|**

**Event - Celestial Burst - The name given the Cataclysmic explosion that occurred when Lucifer overloaded the power in the Divine Sphere with Divine energy, converting it into a bomb and unleashing its power in the High Heavens to release the Celestial Gear upon the Earthly plain. The damage caused was far greater than the most destructive bomb humanity was capable of producing and the casualty rate was immense… and even left an Archangel with permanent injuries. Its after effects shook the skies of adjacent realms and the aftermath of releasing the Celestial Gear upon Earth and the destruction that might unfold as a result, is yet to be fully realised. In light of these events, powers both known and unknown have begun working towards the defeat of Lucifer who seems to have disappeared in wake of his attack on the Celestials…**

**That's Chapter 4 and well, that was quite a climax to the ending of the prologue for Volume 2. So, a lot went down. It seems Saya's survival didn't come with it's costs, yet that cost seems to be somewhat beneficial in other ways too. Lucifer did however wipe the floor with the rangers before basically super-nuking Heaven and as for Michael, doesn't sound like he took the force of that explosion too well either. Sera is utterly shattered by this though and Lucifer seems to have taken quite an interest in messing with her. I just wanted to go all out with the threat he presents and I think it really portrayed how out of his league the rangers really are at the moment. And on Joe's end, seems he met an ancient Dragon who gave him a brief rundown on what happened to the Dragons before Joe convinced him to at least try and save his race. And Ereshkigal had her fun at the end too before ultimately revealing her intent there.**

**So a lot of big things happened here and I'm not yet done with all my set-up since this got a little too long. I'll be adding that into the next plot since it can fit pretty easily in. But it's nothing too big compared to what happened here. So the next arc is pretty short but I can confirm I'm finally bringing Joe back. Yay! But it won't be as simple as you think since I really want to draw this out as long as I can even though it's only going to be 2 parts. But that's all for now and I hope everyone enjoyed reading, until the next chapter!**

**Next Chapter: Celestial Rebirth: Manic Restoration**

**Synopsis: In the aftermath of the Celestial Burst, the reunited rangers take the time to recover from the battles they'd fought while organisations unknown to them begin investigations into the incident or make moves of their own. In the midst of it all, a strange unknown structure rises out of the Earth in the middle of Novaton. When the rangers investigate, their reunion with one they thought they lost will lead to high emotions. But nothing is so simple and the reunion they've wanted will not be the one they get. Can they overcome what's to come? Will Joe manage to return to his friends? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.**


	5. Chapter 5: Manic Restoration

Celestial Rebirth: Manic Restoration

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June and Sir Perfluous for their OC's used in this fic.**

Since the attack on the Museum in Numin, the area had been cordoned off and police guarded the area whilst the investigation proceeded. Now, two days after Lucifer's fateful devastation of the High Heavens, there was still some public activity around the area taped off by the Police. A pickup truck drove up towards the yellow tape barrier where a uniformed officer held his hand out and the vehicle ground to a halt.

The engine shut off and out stepped two men. Out of the driver's side emerged a man who was at least six feet tall and was built like a brick wall; he wore a yellow polo, black shorts and a sporty pair of sneakers. His hair was short and dark but his face seemed cheery and welcoming as he walked up to the temporary barrier. The other man was much less physically intimidating. He wore a red button up shirt with its collar loose and the sleeves rolled to his elbows, his lower half was covered by a pair of grey chinos and he walked in a pair of smart but casual leather shoes. A messenger bag also crossed over his body and bounced at the man's side as he walked. He was fair featured, wore a trendy pair of glasses and had his brown hair combed smoothly into a side part.

The two men finally reached the police line where the officer addressed the two. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can." The man in red said, his voice was almost stereotypically British. "We've come because of the incident at the museum a couple of days ago. My family are benefactors of certain objects in the Museum's care and I would like to help with determining if anything was stolen and who might have stolen it. I'm invested in the preservation of our history after all and it would be a shame if someone got away with pilfering that."

The Police officer didn't seem very interested in the man's background and lazily held out a hand. "Sir, may I see some ID?"

The Brit rummaged around in his messenger bag, eventually producing a wallet, flipping it open and handing it to the officer. While the two men waited for the officer to finish looking the ID over, a new voice called over, grabbing the bulkier man's attention.

"Stone? Damn, fancy seeing you here!" He looked over to see a woman approaching, she seemed to be in her late twenties like the two men and looked to have a light tan. Her hair was blonde and a blue scrunchie kept it in a side-tail that rested on her shoulder. Her clothing gave away her affiliation as she walked up to the two men from the other side of the police line. It was fairly basic with a white top and washed out blue jeans but the badge resting on her waist and the pistol holstered at her hip was a clear indicator of who she was.

"You too, Detective Ryder." He nodded to the woman.

"You two know each other?" The Brit asked to which his muscular companion nodded.

"Yeah, we work out together sometimes. She's even come to the School a few times to talk with the kids so we've kept in touch."

"Hahaha." He shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey Frank, let them through, I'll handle things from here." She told the officer who shrugged and handed the Brit his ID back before leaving to watch another area.

The Detective pulled up the tape and let them pass through, guiding them through to the museum's entrance, where they found themselves looking at the handiwork of the battle between the Occult Rangers. Most of the place was scorched or ruined but it was fortunately structurally stable.

"So what brings you guys here?" Detective Ryder asked whilst they surveyed the damage.

"Well I was just in the area and tagged along. This guy here wanted to check that things were okay with the place and that nothing got taken." The man she'd called Stone said as he squatted to get a better look at the marks. He brushed the ground with his fingers. "Hmm… This doesn't look natural."

"Well believe it or not, we've been having a bunch of supernatural cases ever since last year. They had calmed down for a while but it looks like they're at it again." She said and shrugged. "The Captain's got no way of handling things. Then there's those Power Rangers that showed up when these messes started happening. I'd bet they were involved with this too, someone fried the cameras before we could confirm it though."

"Power Rangers you say?" Stone's friend said and a faint smirk crept across his lips as he looked to the other man. "You didn't tell me about that when I made plans to come here… though now I remember, Laura did say something about an incident in New Orleans this past summer."

Stone laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, must've slipped my mind. To be fair, they are pretty damn covert for rangers."

His friend shrugged. "I'm sure they aren't the biggest problem in Numin right now either way. Okay, I think it's safe to move on to the basement. Should we bring your friend along, Tyson?"

The burly man he addressed jumped to his feet and looked to the Detective once more, then back to his friend. "Well I trust her enough but it's up to her. Kira, you wanna see something cool?"

"Uh… Stone what are you getting me into here? Who exactly is your friend anyway?" Kira asked Tyson and eyed the Brit suspiciously.

"Ah, sorry, I should really introduce myself before we go any further. My name is Aaron Du Lac, I'm affiliated with the Museum in Castelan. Behind closed doors however; I'm one of the leading members of an international NGO known as LARPA. And depending on the status of our vault here, we might all be in a lot of danger."

**[Occult Circle]**

It was a particularly warm and sunny day that had drawn the Occult rangers to a recreational park in suburban Numin. The week was drawing to an end and come the following Monday, their free days would come to an end and their days as High School juniors would begin. It provided an excellent cover for their operations at least. Together, they had spread out a large tartan pattern blanket and brought a picnic basket. Once they had unpacked the spread of sandwiches, snacks and drinks; the seven basked in the glow of the afternoon sun, taking what time they could to savour the moments they had left before their lives progressed to the next stage and their battle against Lucifer would undoubtedly recommence.

"Still, I'm not exactly sure it's okay for us to stay in a human school. You guys didn't exactly try your best to keep your identities a secret after all." Xander frowned and looked at the only human among them.

Ray chuckled nervously whilst he was stared at by the eyes of an assassin. From where she sat, Ellie spoke up in his defence. "Ray's a special case, Joe let him in on our secrets and he hasn't blabbed to everyone about it yet."

"If he did, he knows what would happen to him anyway." Nyssa said as she drew a finger across her neck.

"Haha… good one Nyssa!" Ray chuckled and gulped down his drink. "...Right?"

The black ranger only responded by shrugging and grinning, though it came off more as mal intent in the eyes of the others. Still, they couldn't help but laugh, after all, there was only a sixty percent chance she wasn't joking.

"Still… it's gonna feel weird going back to school after everything we've been through this past year. The war in the Underworld. Us all splitting… What Lucifer's done since." Max said and their faces turned dark. "It's going to be hard getting back to normal again."

From where she sat, Saya saw the troubled look on the face of the white ranger, who rested on her knees and looked up to the sky unblinking. "Still no luck plane shifting to the High Heavens I take it?"

Sera finally returned her gaze to her friends and shook her head. "I think they've put up a barrier to keep anyone from entering the realm. I just wish I could do something to help." She looked down at the spread. "Knowing that we're here and we're able to have a day like this, while innocents suffer because we couldn't stop him… I just want to be able to do something to help them and I can't even go there."

"I get it Sera… I'm sorry, none of us could stand up to Lucifer. I just wish I wasn't so useless right now either. I don't know what surviving the ritual did to me… but I haven't been able to use my powers since then." The blue ranger said, unsconsioulsy fidgeting with the shades concealing the colourless eyes she'd been marked with.

"Hey now." Max spoke once more to try and lighten the mood. "Come on guys, no need to act so down. We'll find him and make him accountable for his actions. For now though, let's just try to live, alright? It's what he would've wanted." He smiled and each of them did in turn, it wouldn't be respectful for them to wallow in self pity, it'd be an insult to his memory after all.

As things calmed down and they continued to chat about more lighthearted topics, the ground around them began to suddenly and violently shake. "Wha- earthquake? Here!?" Ray cried out as they stood up and tried to keep their balance.

It shook for a few more seconds before finally subsiding. The quake had caused a ruckus as many civilians fled the park for their homes and the disruption had clearly unnerved the rangers. "No rest for the weary I guess." Xander said. "We should probably go look for the source."

Before they could, Sera's darted towards and subsequently clutched her chest. _This feeling…_ Without word, the white ranger took off running.

"Huh, where's she going? Ah only one way to find out. Come on guys, she might know where that earthquake came from." Ellie resolved as she took the lead in chasing down their teammate.

**[Occult Circle]**

_Why… why is it still dark? I feel like I've opened my eyes a million times already but it's still dark. Please my Lord. Tell me already, why can't I see your light any more?_ "Gah!" Archangel Michael finally released the tension in his chest as he shot up and opened his eyes, still though, the light evaded him. "Where am I, what is going on here? Why can't I see a thing!?"

"Take it easy, your lordship." A serene voice called to soothe him in his time of strife and turmoil. "You're safe here Lord Michael."

"...What happened?" He said after steadying his breathing.

"There was an explosion… it devastated the City you were in… many were taken in the blast… others we simply couldn't save." The voice speaking to him sounded drowned in sadness, for the loss of life and perhaps even more. It was difficult to discern but behind her angelic tone seemed to be something even deeper.

Michael shakily brought his hand to his face and touched the area around his eyes, he felt the bandages wrapped over his face and let his hand fall. "What was that flash I saw? Have my siblings on the Council decided on a plan of action yet?"

"I don't know my Lord. Though Lord Gabriel watched over you for some time, he eventually left me with a message. He said that our Almighty Lord has made a decree. 'Lady Azrael has been chosen to bring the culprit to justice' were his exact words." The Celestial woman tending to Michael relayed the other Archangel's words.

As she did, Michael slowly took off the bandages covering his eyes and as the last of the cloth was removed, his shoulders sunk as his worst fears for his injuries became realised. "How bad is the damage?"

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this my Lord, but your sight will never return. The damage is irreversible. Even the greatest of Celestial healing magic was unable to repair the injury."

"Ah… I see…" Michael closed his eyes and tried to come to terms with that fact and the irony of his last sentence. "Thank you for telling me. Could I have your name, please?"

"Yes my Lord. I'm Lucia, if you need any more aid, please don't hesitate to call on me." She introduced herself and Michael nodded, he was still processing what he'd heard from her to properly feel the weight of what he was going through. Knowing that someone was at least there to help him through this tribulation was of some comfort at least.

_Still, Azrael. If she was let loose by my Lord, it could only mean one thing…_

**[Occult Circle]**

A deep rumble shook Numin to its core and many took to safety, fleeing from the City centre as the ground was torn open, a great spike of earth erecting out of the ravine that had formed. The earthy thorn soon finished growing and with it, the quakes calmed. In its core was a glassy sphere that seemed to flicker, dance and blaze as if a vortex of fire swirled within.

"There!" Sera called, pointing as she led her friends to the site of the geological anomaly that had remodelled central Numin.

The rangers quickly arrived at the foot of the structure that rose at least twelve feet into the air and watched carefully. "Just what is this thing?" Nyssa muttered.

"Careful, this might be another one of Lucifer's plans. We should be ready for anything." Xander said, the others nodded and each brandished their rings, adhering to the spy's caution.

"Occult Breakout!" They all morphed in a fast flash of light.

Ellie shook her head. "Hasn't Lucifer been in hiding since he attacked the High Heavens and released the Celestial Gear? What's he got to gain from this?"

"It couldn't be one of the Celestial Gear, could it?" Max asked, the timing of the object's appearance was somewhat suspect.

"Oh, I don't know about that." Another voice said.

The rangers quickly turned around and drew their weapons, taking defensive stances as they looked to identify the new presence.

"Who are you? What do you mean?" Saya said, pointing her cutlass out towards an unfamiliar face.

The man before them grinned. He didn't look remarkable and his clothes were casual and plain. "Well I've done my research since the other day and it turns out these Celestial Gear things are popping up here and there. Just didn't think someone else here knew what they were."

"Who are you; what do you know about the Celestial Gear?" Xander demanded to know, edging closer to the man.

"Be careful Xander, his aura isn't pleasant, he's not even human for one." Nyssa said, drawing her bow in case the man decided to attack.

"Hah!" The man shrugged his shoulders. "Guess you got me figured out. Just the other day I had this weird sphere of light jump into my body. Now I can do this." He grinned and closed his hand into a fist as a golden aura resonated around it. "Celestial Gear, Edgeless Cut!" At once the Divine energy building around his closed fist expanded and took the form of a straight sword. He gripped the sword with both hands and pointed it at the rangers, then his features began to polymorph. Skin turning pale, features becoming gaunt; nose elongating and becoming pointed, ears following suit. Two beedy blackened eyes with luminous red pupils staring right at them.

"A Hobgoblin!" Xander identified the creature. "Be on your guard, these guys are tricky. Agile too."

"What do you want here Hob?" Saya edged closer to the possible foe now wielding one of the taboo Celestial Gear.

"Call me Dobbs, and well… If you all know about the Celestial Gear, that means you must have some of your own. So I'll be taking them for myself!" He grinned and shot forwards, lunging at the blue ranger with the straight sword in his hand.

Saya barely had a chance to raise her guard as the sword dove toward her abdomen, fortunately her reaction time hadn't suffered as a consequence of the fight against her friends and she managed to parry aside the blade, kicking Dobbs away before her could attack again.

"He's fast, stay on your guard everyone!" Saya said as she walked backwards into the defensive position of the remaining rangers. He wouldn't take her by surprise again, she'd make sure of it.

"Let's put that to the test. Shall we?" Nyssa tilted her head toward Ellie, the Vampire giving her a nod as Nyssa drew her bow back.

As soon as the energy arrow formed, the black ranger let it fly, followed not even seconds apart by two more. She was quick on the draw and doubted anyone could dodge or block them all. Ellie rushed the Hobgoblin simultaneously. As the arrows flew, Dobbs, raised the Edgeless Cut and a golden aura flared up around the weapon. Catching the rangers, by surprise, each arrow was deflected by the weapon, mere instances apart and the Hobgoblin had successfully blocked all of them. The arrows sailed into the ground adjacent to Dobbs as he grinned. It took the other rangers by surprise and threw the Crimson ranger off as she leapt at him through the air, dagger in hand, ready to cut. He brought his powerful weapon to the side as she beared down upon him. With one swift flick of his wrist, the sword unleashed an arc of Divine energy that struck Ellie while she was airborne.

"Ellie!" Sera cried out as she watched her teammate be struck by the attack, throwing her backwards towards the ground.

"I've got her!" Nyssa said. Utilising the speed enhancing abilities of the Knight chess piece held in her Occult ring, she became a blur, shooting across the battlefield and managing to catch the crimson ranger in her arms before she could hit the ground.

Ellie nodded her thanks as the others stepped in front of them. "Are you working with Lucifer? What do you know about this thing that just rose up in the middle of the City!?" Max said, his demand getting a grin and a shrug from Dobbs.

"Lucifer, who's he? I've got no idea what that spiky thing there is either, I just want to have a little fun and get my hands on some more Celestial Gear. This one's fun but I've heard there's some real powerhouses out there too." He slashed the air and sent out yet another wave of energy at the rangers.

Though they held their weapons up to guard against it, they were struggling to hold their ground. Xander's footing began to slip. "Damn it… This power, it's almost as strong as Skuros was but… there's something different about it too." He said through gritted teeth, his dual blades, beginning to slip.

The Celestial Lightspears Sera had conjured to hold back the force of the attack were beginning to crack too. "...Even my power isn't enough- I can't hold this much longer!"

Suddenly, Max's axe was flung back as the wave hit him, pushed through Xander's block and shattered Sera's defence, knocking all three back into Nyssa and Ellie. The Vampire and Fallen Angel couldn't react fast enough as the wave of energy hit them head on and took all five rangers out of their forms. The team fell to the ground and looked to find only Saya had managed to withstand the power of that blow, though only barely. She had been forced down onto one knee and her suit was scored in several areas.

"Not good." She said, rising again to meet Dobbs, though as she stood, the slight stumble betrayed how much the attack had taken out of her. The blue ranger shook her head and stared down the Hobgoblin once more.

He grinned and offered a short clap. "Nice, at least one of you's still standing. I was gonna get bored if that's all you guys could do."

"Noblesse Oblige I suppose. Don't think I'm going to allow someone like you to cause chaos with a weapon that powerful. Even strength alone isn't enough to match up to refined skill!"

Without giving another second to her enemy, Saya began her counterattack, Her blade sang through the air and found its mark, thrusting straight at the Hobgoblin's chest, aiming to end this quickly. Saya stopped short and flinched as the Edgeless Cut moved at an incomprehensible speed and clashed against the blue ranger's cutlass. The straight sword struck against the blade with incredible force and Saya froze, her signature weapon splitting, the metal echoed into a snapping sound while Dobbs' Celestial Gear weapon discharged again and knocked Saya back.

The blue ranger hit the ground hard and rolled a few times, stopping just before the others. Her morph cancelled and the young woman was left holding the handle and broken blade of her weapon. She turned her head towards the weapon to check its condition and hope with all her heart that it wasn't as she feared. When she did, the girl had to hold back the tears. "L...Leviafang…"

"Saya…" Sera said as she tried to stand and help her friend but it was of no use, their situation was dire, possible even hopeless.

Dobbs grinned and readied the blade for one final attack. "Oh, there's one more thing, to get any Celestial Gear you have, turns out I gotta kill you. Ha, it's been fun!" He waved at them with his free hand as the sword channeled more energy around it. The Hobgoblin was seconds away from putting an end to the rangers, then his attention shifted. "Huh? The hell?"

Each of the rangers managed to turn as the earthy shard began to crumble and the glassy orb exploded, unleashing a searing stream of fire that began to take the shape of a blazing serpent. The beast's head formed and unleashed a bellowing roar. It looked almost like a Leviathan, the rangers thought. Then they remembered back to the creature they'd battled the first time they needed to use their Megazord.

"No way!" Max exclaimed as they looked at the brilliant conflagration taking the form of a Dragon.

It reared its head at Dobbs and opened its maw, unleashing a searing stream of flames that rumbled out towards the Hobgoblin. "Hahaha… This can't be happening. Screw this!" The nervous laughter of the ranger's enemy was followed up by his sudden and quick retreat towards an alley, where he leapt over a metal fence and fled the scene.

"Seems we were saved this time." Nyssa said, slowly rising to her feet, thankfully having taken less of a hit than most of her teammates.

While she helped the others, Ellie also rose to her feet. "Yeah but I'm a little worried. Just what is that thing?"

Before they could speculate, the glassy sphere's shards collapsed against the road and the dirt of the spike dropped back into the cravass, the flames of the beast's body shrank until the only thing that remained was a human. Though as the rangers looked at the person left in place of the burning mirage, their hearts almost stopped.

Together, the rangers ran as quickly as their legs could carry them to the person's side and their suspicions were confirmed. Among the mop of black hair and down to the finest detail was a face they knew too well and thought they'd never see again.

"No way…" Ellie clasped a hand around her mouth and shook her head vehemently.

"But we all saw him disappear… How could this be?" Xander crouched and examined the young man's face, searching for any discrepancies between him and the one he knew.

"I don't know what to say… Could it really be him?" Nyssa said, the surprise and shock of it all was even too much for even her to keep composed.

"I hope it is. I don't want this to not be real. It has to be him, right?" Max tried to remain optimistic but even he found it hard to believe what he was seeing was real.

Saya dropped to her knees before the young man. "...Why? ...I just let go of you and now… why?" She could barely speak before she sunk her head into the young man's chest, the others heard her sobs follow shortly after.

Sera placed a hand on her chest and smiled. "I knew it. Even after you disappeared in front of us… I still felt you out there, somewhere… I'm glad you're back with us… Joe."

As she spoke his name, the reborn red ranger slowly opened his eyes. The others looked over his face, hoping once he saw them, he'd instantly recognise them and shoot up, full of life… Yet as he opened his eyes, they remained dull. His lips opened and the words that came out were random, incoherent, senseless. Like a mind in flux and he didn't seem to acknowledge any of the others.

"What's going on? Joe, can you hear me? It's us, your friends!" Max tried to shake him out of his near catatonic state but it seemed futile. The others winced at his efforts.

Then, Xander pulled the amber ranger off of their returned leader. "It's no good Max. We need to take him somewhere safe, maybe Gabriel's, he might know how to help." The grey ranger proposed. Right now their reunion for what it was, came at a bad time. This news just made things even more complicated. The sooner they figured out why Joe was like this and how they could fix this, the sooner they could bring him back to his senses and truly be whole again. Only then could they deal with this new situation and the Hobgoblin that possessed the Edgeless Cut.

While they helped Joe to his feet and left for Gabriel's home, they were oblivious to the three watchers that had been keeping an eye on the situation from around the corner of a building. "So, they're the Occult rangers. Hmm, seems they still have growing to do." Aaron said.

"You were going to step in there, right?" Tyson folded his arms and looked to his friend.

The Brit chuckled and nodded. "I was just about to, then that giant fire lizard appeared and settled things for us. Fortunately I didn't need to intervene this time."

Kira shook her head and breathed asigh of relief. "That was insane. So these Power Rangers have been kids this whole time? They nearly got taken out by whatever that thing was too... Numin just keeps getting crazier and crazier."

"Haha. Reminds me of our old Town, right Aaron? To be honest, I got so excited, I nearly went in there myself!" Tyson grinned, pounding his fist into the palm of his hand.

Aaron laughed. "Never change Tyson." He stepped out onto the street. "Come on, let's have a look at the scene… that weapon their enemy wielded has me concerned."

**|Occult Circle|**

**Supernatural Being - Hobgoblin - A mischievous race that does everything in pursuit of one goal, alleviating boredom. From working everyday jobs, pulling pranks, playing games to the more unsavoury Hobs like pit fighters and murderers, everything is in pursuit of fun and fun is subjective to each Hobgoblin. Though they owe no allegiance to anyone and can even stop in the middle of an action and walk away to find something else to do, making them very risky hires in the labour industry. Even so, they still get hired because of their work efficiency and some Hobgoblins only work because they covet coins, as shiny things seem to bring them joy.**

**That's chapter 5 and things are starting to build up again here. First we had the introduction to a few characters, I'm sure plenty of you know who two of them are, Kira Ryder on the other hand is a completely new character here and she'll be playing a bit of a supporting role as things go on. LARPA is of course the organisation who's vault Lucifer raided in his effort to nuke the High Heavens, seems they'll be investigating too now. Next, it seems that Michael has suffered from his brother's plot and is now permanently blind, quite a devastating change for him to lose his sight and now there's another Celestial that's been sent in pursuit of Lucifer. For anyone who knows who Azrael is in a biblical sense, you might be able to figure out why. As for that other Celestial name dropped, well… keep an eye on that. And for the biggest part of this, the rangers faced the power of the first Celestial Gear they've to encounter and it devastated them. It isn't looking good and Saya's family sword broke in the process, fortunately Joe's timely resurrection saved them, for now. Though now he's back, it seems not everything is and his mind isn't all there. How and why are questions best answered in the second part of this arc.**

**In the meantime, I wish you all well and that you stay safe in these turbulent times. I had to take a couple of weeks away from writing anything recently because I was completely burned out on something else and was barely making progress ...then I got sidetracked by the game I was playing and kind of forgot to do anything else. But I'm back now fortunately and hopefully can get into a sort of routine while I've got all this time to spare. Enough of me rambling though, thanks for reading and until the next chapter!**

**Next Chapter: Celestial Rebirth: Blazing Renewal**

**Synopsis: With the physical return of Joe, the rangers have encountered a problem, his mind is unravelled. They go to what lengths they can to help restore his consciousness but with the Hobgoblin Dobbs running free and the power of a Celestial Gear in his hands, they are left with a desperate fight that they don't know if they can win. While they put their faith in bringing their team together again, even more unknown elements work behind the scenes, setting events in motion that will shape the future of the conflict… meanwhile, Lucifer steps from the shadows to trigger the next phase of his great plan. Next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle**


	6. Chapter 6: Blazing Renewal

Celestial Rebirth: Blazing Renewal

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June and Sir Perfluous for their OC's used in this fic.**

"Bold… movement… bathtub… particle… boots… axis… pierce… horn… factor… club… vessel… scream… monarch… news.. landscape... bloody… tower… flames…" Joe murmured as he cycled through words in no order. No sense or meaning, coherence or purpose to the words he spoke as he lied flat on the couch in Gabriel's lounge.

The rangers sat quietly while their English teacher looked the returned red ranger over, hoping to discern the nature of what's ailing Joe. "I'm sorry rangers… whatever this is, seems to be beyond my expertise. I've learned all I could about the wider world you all live in but I've never come across something like this." He rose from his son's side and faced them. "I'm going to my study, see if I can find anything in my books." Gabriel said, starting towards the stairs. When he reached the first one, he paused and looked to the group again. "Thank you… for bringing him here. It's been difficult not having him around." He quickly turned away and started his ascent.

"Damn it, even Gabriel doesn't know how to fix him." Max muttered. He scratched his head, hoping to uncover some idea. Their situation was desperate considering the appearance of Dobbs and the deadly weapon he wielded.

Nyssa rested her head in her hand, staring at the manic red ranger lost in the depths of his own mind. Hoping to make some sense of his aura as it fluctuated and changed before her eyes. "Just looking at him, it's like an inferno. I can't be certain but perhaps he's going through some kind of change, one we can't see."

Sera nodded. "I can feel it too. There's something different about him now but I've never known anything like it. Maybe whatever means he was brought back to us with hasn't finished yet."

"So kinda like if he was food, he isn't done cooking just yet?" Ellie summarized the two Angels' theory.

"I admit, when I made the transition from my corporeal form, things were odd but I never had a situation like this. I guess the difference between living again and dying is more complicated than you might think." Xander said, mulling over the potential factors in his head that could lead to such things.

"Regardless of what's happened, we need to plan ahead for the return of Dobbs. That slimy hobgoblin got the better of us once…" Saya said, her teeth gritted as she clenched her fists. "I won't allow that dishonour a second time." She relaxed after declaring so and stood. "But even so, I can't leave Joe like this. So I called a friend to Earth. She might be able to assist with fixing what's happened to him and should be here any second." The blue ranger walked to the door and opened it, with her teammates following closely behind.

Looking out into the street as the warm orange rays of the evening sun glossed over everything, they watched as a familiar face approached the suburban residence. She had forgone the finery they had met her in and now had dressed down into casual clothes native to the realm she currently roamed, but there was no mistaking it, Karin Trevil had returned to lend them her aid in whatever way she could.

The rangers who knew he smiled, seeing how well she looked since the last time they had met. "I'm glad she was able to come. It's reassuring that the troubles of her own realm haven't kept her from seeing us again." Nyssa said as they returned inside and Saya led in the former noble.

"Yeah it's been a while hasn't it." Karin waved to the group as she entered. "Lucky me that the Knight Major let me go off on my own."

"Knight Major?" Ellie asked as their Mage friend took a seat.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. You guys didn't hear did you? Vander's been promoted for his actions in the Underworld and they put him in charge of those Lanzen guys too."

"That's good to hear, he was a tremendous help in the battle against the Archons, especially when his Commander fell. He deserves it for what he pulled off." Xander said, it was clear to him that someone like Vander had a bright future ahead of him. Despite his lack of magical ability and the prejudices against those like him, Vander displayed an impressive command of his troops and his strength as a leader would only grow as he proved himself in spite of his disadvantages.

Karin nodded. "Yeah. I know when we met him things weren't ideal but he's kept his promise to Landry ever since. He's done a lot for me after everything that's happened."

"I'm a little surprised you managed to get here so quickly after Joe came back though. Guess your magic is really good to pull jumping to another realm off that quickly." Ellie commented as Karin made her way over to the still randomly muttering Joe.

"Oh I've actually been on Earth for a couple days now. Saya actually came to me for help with-"

"That's enough Karin!" Saya shut her friend down as she returned to the room from the door. Her arms were folded and her frow was evidence enough for Karin to not try and expose whatever it was the blue ranger wanted to keep secret. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. Please, we need you to see if you can do anything for him… none of us want to see him like this. We want the old Joe back." Saya softened as she spoke, laying out her and her friends' worries to the Mage.

Karin smiled and nodded. "Don't worry. I can tell how much he means to you. I'll do what I can with my magic but there's no guarantee that I'll succeed. What I know about real resurrection isn't much but I'll give it my best shot. You guys just focus on your other problem and leave this to me!"

While they talked, Gabriel returned from upstairs, carrying with him several tomes stacked up in his hands. "Oh, so this' Saya's Mage friend I was told about? Nice to meet you. Hopefully together we'll be able to bring all of him back to us. The rest of you, go home, we'll take things from here. And stay strong, when Dobbs next attacks, keep fighting for his sake, okay? Because I know that boy there would do the exact same for any of you if you were in his shoes. Stay strong and overcome this so we can all finally be together again."

**[Occult Circle]**

That very night as the rangers rested, as Karin and Gabriel toiled in their efforts to bring back the mind of the red ranger; far across Numin another event was taking place. Flames engulfed the lone Church that the shadowy group Seraphim called their home. The fire tore through the building with the relentless force of nature. Though fire crews had arrived on scene and now battled the blaze, it only grew to engulf the whole Church.

Below, the headquarters of Seraphim was torn asunder. Walls broken and collapsed chambers, fires even here as what remained sweated under the heat. The bodies of the agents were strewn across the floor and only two figures remained, deep inside, to the office of the man responsible for the whole organisation.

"Why are you doing this!?" The leader of Seraphim cowered in his burning office. "Seraphim is doing the lord's work and you seek to punish us!?"

"You think what you did here was just? Scum like you are the worst." A distorted voice snarled, emerging from an armoured figure shrouded by the fires consuming the catacombs. He raised a hand sporting might claws and the two visors of the figure's helmet reflected the brilliant orange fires that continued to grow. "For the sake of all victims, I'll ignite the conflagration that burns monsters like you to ash!"

_**AVENGE EXTINCTION**_

A deep and vicious mechanical voice announced as the blaze erupted around his arm and took the form of giant claws, which tore right through the leader. His cries were heard by none, and with him, Seraphim was gone.

**[Occult Circle]**

Early the next day, word had spread quickly to the rest of the city of what had happened the previous night and many had gone to see the aftermath for themselves, among them; Detective Ryder, Tyson Stone and Aaron Du Lac. The three weren't allowed past the safety barriers while the Fire Department investigated. Still, they had a clear enough view to see the results. Little remained of the Church, the entrance to the catacombs and ruins of the now defunct Seraphim now sealed off by rubble.

"What do you think of this Detective? First the incident with those Power Rangers yesterday and last night this happened. What's your assessment?" Aaron asked as he examined what still stood of the ruined Church from the barriers.

"Things are really heating up in Numin again… It's got me a little worried. A lot of people are after what we've already experienced. Now it's all starting up again… but there's something weird about this. It just looks like arson to me."

"Huh and here I thought it might've been to do with that big fiery Dragon we saw yesterday." Tyson said, folding his arms and giving a shrug. "Guess we won't be needing to look into here."

"Not so fast Tyson." Aaron halted his friend. "LARPA knows a little bit about the Church in Numin. It is after all where you and Vala kicked the crap out of that Lich Knight and took the map piece. Considering that was resting here, we decided to keep tabs on it and how it changed since our final battle."

"Oh yeah know I remember! Hahaha, that was a fun day!" Tyson wrapped his hands around the back of his head and grinned in his reminiscence.

"Anyway, it's actually the headquarters of an anti-supernatural organisation funded by the church and state, albeit secretly. Or it was until whoever destroyed this place came around. But who could have… I'm not too sure."

"You know, ever since you guys showed up yesterday, my life's gone from simple to complicated really fast." Kira sighed as the two men tried to come up with some form of culprit.

"I don't think it was _her_ because she wouldn't order something like this. That organisation she runs is another story though; they don't exactly follow their leadership completely after all. If anyone has the resources to take down Seraphim, I'd put my money on the Foundation."

"Those guys? I heard you had a run in with them but damn. They're kinda scary if they can do something like this and leave no trace."

"But that still leaves just what could cause this." Aaron said. Before they could continue their investigation, cries came from the outskirts of the crowd.

The three adults turned toward the sound as people began running. Dobbs was walking towards the crowd, the Edgeless Blade in his hand and a craze in his stare, his grin twisted with sadistic glee. From under his shirt, Aaron pulled out a silver pendant that took the shape of a longsword.

"You gonna use it?" Tyson whispered to his friend.

The Brit scanned the area quickly and noticed how many civilians were still in the area, then he noticed from the same direction that the Hobgoblin had emerged, the six active Occult rangers were chasing the rogue down. Aaron shook his head and tucked the amulet away. "Not just yet. Let's focus on helping the people get to safety, then we'll see how this plays out." He directed them towards aiding in the evacuation that was devolving into chaos as the crowd fled from Dobbs, who began unleashing arcs of energy from his sword near the feat of civilians attempting to escape his attack.

Finally though, the rangers caught up and overtook the Hobgoblin, leaping over the thrill seeking delinquent. As they landed, they brandished their rings and Saya stared deep into his black and red eyes and focused herself on defeating this creature no matter what.

"Round two rangers? Hahaha! BRING. IT. ON!" Dobbs pointed his Celestial Gear weapon at the group as a challenge while their rings flashed with light.

"Occult Breakout!"

"Celestial Breakout!"

The rangers morphed in a quick flash of brilliant light as the final few civilians fled the area, though they were unaware of their audience that continued to monitor the fight from a distance. Saya looked down to her hand that clutched the handle of the shattered hilt of her weapon. The blade was broken off and left sharp jagged metal in its place. Clearly it wouldn't be of much use in this fight. "I'll just have to use my fists to knock you into next week then. Rangers, let's stop him before he does any more harm!"

Their plan had been formulated the night before and though they were down a tactician and a leader, they had used their experience and intuition in battle to put together something they thought could take down the Hobgoblin.

Sera immediately conjured a Combat Halo in one hand and a Lightspear in the other. The white ranger charged, Xander following behind her, close enough that her body masked Xander's presence as he slipped out of phase with the world. The Angel threw her Lighspear like a javelin, the Celestial conjuration sailed through the air towards Dobbs who grinned and flicked out another wave of energy from the Edgeless Blade. It connected and broke through Sera's Celestial armament like it was nothing. Sera didn't flinch though and instead span to the side as Xander slipped back in phase with the world and fired off a bolt from the crossbow he had managed to secretly aim at the Hobgoblin.

"What the-" Dobbs said as he relaxed his sword, only to just see the bolt before it hit him. The silver projectile zipped toward him and hit the Hobgoblin in the shoulder. "Gah! I'll get you for that, you sneak!"

"Try me if you can!" Xander retorted as he continued the advance.

Dobbs pulled back his weapon and began charging up the Celestial Gear, a golden aura surrounded the blade and the Hobgoblin swung. As it arced, the energy lashed off and flew towards the grey ranger. His phasing abilities would put him at a disadvantage this time so instead he opted for another strategy. As the wave of energy surged towards him, Xander ran at it and at the last moment, he jumped, spinning through the air horizontally over the attack as it glided past him. As Xander began to land, he repositioned himself and continued his charge as his feet touched the ground.

Soon enough, he was upon the Hobgoblin. Before the rangers' foe could get in another attack, Xander utilised his wrist blades, trapping the sword between them. "Now you're not going anywhere. Never keep your eyes on the distraction, you might just find yourself surrounded."

As Xander said those words, Dobbs realised finally what had been happening around him. By taking his eyes off his surroundings, the remaining rangers had encircled the Hobgoblin and he was now in a desperate position. Or so the rangers believed. Dobbs' manic grin remained as he began to cackle like a maniac. "Hahahaha… HAHAHAHA! Nice one! But it still won't save you from my power!" Dobbs channeled more energy into his sword and as he did, an imperceivable force stuck Xander, knocking the grey ranger away.

As he regained his footing and prepared to attack simultaneously with the other rangers, Dobbs aimed the sword at the ground and thrust it in, shattering the road under his feet and unleashing an explosion around him that engulfed all six in its brilliant glow. When the smoke and light cleared the rangers were on their knees and their ranger suits were gone once more. His attack left their clothes scorched and their bodies bloodied. It was something they would've likely not survived if not for their ranger powers.

"Just… how strong is this guy…" Max groaned doing his best to rise but it was a futile effort.

"It's official. I… Hate… Goblins…" Ellie panted, trying to recover any wind she can to try and keep this fight going.

"All our planning… How did it go out the window so easily?" The black ranger wondered, realising just now how difficult making a successful strategy must be."

"This is my fault… I'm the one who got caught off-guard." Xander said, his self blame understandable but disregarding the factor of the Edgeless Blade's power that led to this situation.

"No Xander… We did our best… it just wasn't enough… But we still have to keep fighting, somehow." Sera struggled out her words, doing her best to stand on shaky legs but the Angel kept stumbling with each attempt.

"Why… why again? Are we not good enough anymore!? Am I not good enough?" The blue ranger asked herself letting the doubt flow in as her strength to fight began to fade.

From a safe distance where the three adults were watching, Aaron finally nodded. "I've seen all I need to. I'll be dealing with this no-"

Before he could finish his sentence or begin his heroic entry, Dobbs had begun another attack, one that would surely finish the rangers for good. "Well… it's been fun rangers but now you're boring me so I'm gonna kill you. So long and thanks for all the fun!" As he swung his blade at the ground though, the Hobgoblin neglected yet another outside factor, one that would prove to be a fatal mistake for him.

From the sky, a humanoid figure sporting wings flew down toward Dobbs at an extreme speed. Before his weapon could connect, it crashed right into the Hobgoblin, knocking him along the road. As he tumbled along, the figure crashed into the tarmac, when he rose however, what the other rangers saw brightened their faces and sparked a hope that had been lost on that fateful day when their leader fell.

Standing tall, the Occult ring on his finger and a focused look in his eye as he stared down the Hobgoblin scrambled to his feet, there was no doubt about it. Then the adolescent turned to the rangers who felt their strength recover just from seeing him like this and he smiled. "Miss me?" Joe said.

**[Occult Circle]**

Five minutes prior to the battle in Gabriel's out of the way home, both he and Karin had spent a restless night tending to Joe's mind, trying all they knew to fix the mind of the lost red ranger. All of their efforts bore no fruit and the two now sat in the kitchen, cups of coffee in their hands as they discussed the Occult and magic, hoping their respective knowledge could bring out some theoretical treatment for his mental discombobulation.

While they were away from him however, they were unaware of the ethereal visitor sitting on Gabriel's coffee table; swinging her legs idly as she looked at Joe, who muttered incoherently to himself still.

"Oh my. It seems the resurrection didn't go exactly as planned. Oops." Ereshkigal said to the young man who offered no legitimate response. "It's lucky I can at least project myself into your head so it seems like I'm here. For all the power I have I'm still pissed about not being able to visit the physical planes as I please. Anyway, seems when I was orchestrating your resurrection, I may have made a… slight… little… miscalculation. I forgot to account for the structure of a Dragon brain compared to a human one and there's a lot of things in the wrong place right now. To be perfectly honest, I kind of like you more like this. I mean, you don't talk back nearly as much. Ah but regardless, I can't have my servant be like this, you're of no use to me in such a state. Luckily, your brain is just misaligned right now and Dragons have wondrous self-repair abilities. I think any moment now, everything should be putting itself back together. I'm just glad you'll never remember this conversation. Lucky me, I don't have to live with this embarrassment for much longer. But have fun with the time I've given to you servant. I'm sure you'll do your duty to me well in the meantime. See you soon." She smirked and faded from Joe's vision.

As she did, the red ranger blinked. Then again and again. He sat up to get his bearings. "I'm home…" He muttered and heard sounds coming from the kitchen. Deciding to investigate, he headed in only to be met with the surprised face of Karin to see him up and walking, along with the face of his adoptive father staring in shock and blinking repeatedly in his attempt to fight the tears that were welling up on seeing the young man he thought he'd lost.

"Joe you're…"

The red ranger smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm here."

**[Occult Circle]**

Joe turned his attention towards Dobbs who scowled at the red ranger. "You got in the way of my fun! Maybe you want to be the next one to entertain me then?" He then grinned and tried to throw off the red ranger.

"I don't know who you are or what you're up to but it looks like you hurt my friends. I'm not letting you off easy for that." Joe cracked his knuckles as the once inactive stone in his Occult ring flared to life, the gem shining red with all its splendour.

"Joe, be careful, that sword of his is nothing like what we've faced before, it's on a whole new level!" Sera tried to warn the red ranger as he stepped toward the Hobgoblin.

"Then it's lucky for him that I am too." Joe simply said as he continued closing the gap between him and Dobbs.

"Wha- you want to die? Okay you asked for it! HAHAHAHAHA!" Dobbs slung an arc of energy at Joe, the red ranger didn't flinch as it flew towards him.

"Occult Breakout!" He called as the weapon's discharge struck, engulfing him in an explosion just like that which downed the rangers.

The others held their breaths. It was too soon. They'd already lost him once and to lose him again so soon… It would break them. The anxiety lasted as the smoke shrouded where Joe stood, but when it cleared, they were mesmerised by what took his place. Joe wore a ranger suit, but it didn't hold the motif of a Phoenix as it once did. No, this looked much different. Though it took many of the same cues as his old ranger suit, the intricate designs had changed. On his black sleeved red torso, instead of a silver ankh, a silver pair of mighty Dragon wings outlined black took its place. The helmet took on the visage of a Dragon head, it's sharp teeth decorating the visor and outlined in silver. His silver belt was imprinted with a western European Dragon breathing fire, while the sword at his side was none other than the Infinity Saber that had interestingly undergone no changes.

"That's… his ranger form's completely different!" Xander said as he stood up alongside the others to watch what was about to unfold.

"That isn't all that's changed. You feel it too, right Sera?" Nyssa asked the white ranger who nodded.

"I can see it now, what was changing inside him. It's clear and as bright as a star."

"Hell yeah, you get him Joe!" Max cheered for his leader, speaking of which, drew his rapier.

"That's the best you can do?" He taunted the Hobgoblin who retaliated by lashing out with his sword, another wave of energy being directed at the red ranger. He walked towards Dobbs and as it came in near, he slashed it down the middle, splitting the attack in two as it deflected to the ground at his sides. "Yawn."

Dobbs began to panic and rushed at the red ranger. He tried attacking with the Celestial Gear but Joe's reaction time seemed to increase tenfold of what it was as the rangers watched. Each attack was nothing for him and soon Dobss began to exhaust himself. The red ranger turned his head back towards Saya and he called over to his second in command.

"Saya, I have an idea but depending on what happens,I might need you to finish things. Can I count on you?"

The girl was surprised by his sudden request but nodded and focused on her ring, summoning what was left of Leviafang. "Even if my sword is broken, I'll always trust your judgement." She said and readied herself.

"Good… Now let's see if I can pull off what I did to get here." Joe muttered as he knocked away the Edgeless Blade with a backfist and took a hold of Dobbs' clothes. "How do you feel about becoming the latest member of the mile high club?"

"Wha-" Was all Dobbs could say as Joe concentrated as much as possible and from his back two deep red wings unfurled and without a second thought, the red ranger shot up off the ground and high into the air, carrying the Hobgoblin and his blood curdling screams with him.

On the ground the wide eyed rangers stood in shock. "You guys all saw that, right?" Ellie asked and the others slowly nodded as they all came to understand that Joe was indeed unlike what he used to be, physically anyway.

Up in the sky, the red ranger carried Dobbs high up, breaking through the clouds. "Okay, that's high enough. Time to take you all the way down." With that, he sheathed his weapon and took hold of him with both hands before directing his wings downwards, sending them both hurtling towards the ground. As they picked up speed, fire began to catch around Joe's ranger suit. Soon it spread until the yellow flames engulfed him. "Burn in the fires of a Dragon!" He exclaimed, letting go of Dobbs as they neared the ground as from his visor, a stream of flames erupted and shot towards Dobbs' body, shrouding him in the magical fire that now belonged to Joe and the mighty powers he had been granted.

Dobbs cried out as the flames melted his flesh and he finally hit the ground. Joe finally touched down and retracted his wings as the other rangers gathered around him to congratulate him on how he handled the battle with such ease. As he was about to say something to his friends however, he dropped to one knee and held his stomach. "Gah! What the?"

"Joe! You okay?" Xander bent down to check on him.

While the rangers did so, Dobbs' broken body though barely functioning, still managed to begin crawling its way over to the Edgeless Blade discarded on the road. "I'm… not… done yet…"

Before he could reach it though, he felt a sharp object pierce his back and all the air escape his lungs. It caught the others' attention and they saw Saya's broken blade stuck into the Hobgoblin's body as she retrieved it. She looked at Joe and nodded. "It's over." She returned the broken weapon to her ring.

As she did so, the Edgeless blade began to glow and levitate, gravitating towards the blue ranger. "What's happening now?" Ellie asked as the weapon came closer and as it did, Saya's ring resonated and absorbed it like it had her Leviathan.

"To the victor go the spoils… I think." Nyssa took a guess but this development would have to wait, for now, everyone was back together again, that's what mattered.

Sera went to Joe's side and helped him to his feet again as the red ranger cancelled his morph. "Are you okay Joe? Please don't lie to us if you're not."

"I'm fine… Just exhausted all of a sudden… well that and I think I could eat a horse." He grinned and the mood lightened some. As his friends returned to the feeling of joy at having him back, the red ranger's gaze shifted to Saya and for the first time since seeing her again, he saw it. "Saya, what happened to your eyes?"

She was stunned momentarily by the question and everything that entailed the change in her pigment… and the other changes she hadn't yet revealed to her friends. He was the reason for that choice, for what led to this and it brought back those feelings from then and the blue ranger couldn't stand feeling that way again. She quickly turned her head away and started walking. "It's nothing to worry about. I'm going home. I'll see you all at school. And… welcome back Joe."

Joe was about to go after her when he caught the disapproving look of the black ranger. "She just needs time… your death was hard on her. Let's head back too, don't want anyone catching us around here and asking questions."

"Yeah you're right, sorry." His expression lightened as he began to walk with his friends. "But seriously, I am really hungry right now, any chance we could pick something up along the way?"

**[Occult Circle]**

That evening, at the Leviathan household, Saya and Karin sat in the lounge. Though the first girl was drinking tea and the other had a mug of coffee in her hand, the atmosphere was far from relaxed.

"So, did you finally get the results of the test?"

Karin nodded to her friend's question. "Yeah. It's what I thought. Whatever that ritual took, it wasn't just the pigment of your eyes, or of your skin in your Demon form. And I think it has something to do with the disappearance of that birthmark of yours and your powers too. I think that ritual still took a part of you, even though it sounds like you rejected it in the end. It still wanted a price, so it took the part of you that you care about the most. Your identity as a Leviathan Demon."

**[Occult Circle]**

"Just what did I get myself into?" Kira Ryder muttered to herself as she rummaged around her apartment's kitchen to fix herfles something to eat quickly. "Those two guys are crazy, I mean sure those things exist, but who the hell wants to get involved with that?" She talked to herself. Then she looked over to the half open door and the light coming from the dark room it led to.

"Hey Kait, you want anything!?" Kira called over to the room but after several seconds of silence gave up. She sighed and shook her head. "Same as ever."

**[Occult Circle]**

Across the City, in a deserted alley, a shadowy figure was on the phone with another individual, his voice sounded young, not much different in age from the rangers. "It's done, I burned those bastards to the ground. What's my next mission?"

"Slow down Vengean." The masculine voice on the other end told him. "You'll get more orders from me when it's time, for now, enjoy yourself. You're the ace up my sleeve after all. Taking down Seraphim was just the start. Now they're out of the way, our battle against Lucifer will be a lot smoother. Still, I don't know how I'm gonna break this to the Maiden. This mission wasn't exactly authorized after all."

"Like I care, bad guys deserve what they get and I'm the one to give them it." The young man said.

"And that's why I like you, you're doing good work for the Foundation. I'll contact you again soon."

The call immediately cut off and the young man identified only as Vengean slipped the phone back in his pocket and sighed. "Whatever I want huh?"

"HELP! HELP! I'M BEING MUGGED!" Came the cries from somewhere nearby.

"Ha, now that sounds like fun."

**[Occult Circle]**

At Numin's recently completed airport, where traffic was busy so late in the night given how vital this particular one had become since it's completing, a young woman who looked to be in her teens with long blonde hair and icy blue eyes, the looks of a supermodel but dressed quite conservatively, drew the gazes of all the men that she walked past as she walked out of the gate, pulling her pink suitcase along. She seemed oblivious to the attention however and went on her way out the door and caught a taxi with ease.

It hadn't been a long drive but finally the girl exited the taxi with her suitcase and waved the driver off as he went on his way. "Merci!"

Then she entered the apartment building she had been dropped off at. Atop the building was a studio apartment, which the young woman unlocked the door of and stepped in, flicking on the lights. "I'm finally back home." She smiled. "Just in time for school too."

**[Occult Circle]**

Inside an old looking shop, one that seemed to dabble with the spiritual and supernatural considering the decor and products that were on display, the bell of the door opening jingled and in entered Lucifer; wearing what looked like a tailored suit, fit perfectly to both his vanity and his body. The crimson colours of the suit picked perfectly to go with the white shirt and black silk tie. Truly it was an outfit that represented the Archdemon perfectly.

A woman at the counter noticed him. She had dark hair and looked to be in her twenties but nothing stood out about her. To a human that is. "Can you fools not read? The sign says closed."

"Posessign yet another body?" Lucifer grinned. "Oh how the mighty have fallen. You should've taken my help when I offered it. Mogana Le Fay."

She scowled as he named her. "This one is a favourite of mine actually, easy to control and had she been raised right, magic would come naturally to her. Unfortunately for her, she'll never amount to anything more than a vessel now. So why has the almighty lord of Demons graced me with his presence, I thought your new freedom would be spent enjoying life's many sins."

"Haha, you never change. One thing at a time though, I'm not on Earth for pleasure just yet, no I have a plan for this place and you're going to help me with it." Lucifer told her.

Morgana folded her arms. "Oh, and why is that?"

"Because I know how sick of possessing other people's bodies you are. And I know exactly where you can find your real body. Think about all you could do with that power." He explained, a smile creasing the Sorceress' face as she began to understand what he was suggesting.

"Fine, I'll aid you. As soon as I get my body back. So, what is your plan?"

"Why my dear, the only plan that matters of course."

**|Occult Circle|**

**Sorceress - Morgana Le Fay - Ancient enemy of King Arthur's court and perhaps the most powerful and deadly Sorceress to exist. Centuries ago her spirit was separated from her real body as a way to reduce her power in order to seal her away. While her body has been successfully contained in stasis, her spirit has escaped capture time and again and the Sorceress has even come into conflict with multiple ranger teams in the modern day. Some encounters have even cost the lives of her hosts in order to stop her, even this has not been enough and Morgana persists to haunt the realms, seemingly unkillable and ever deadly.**

**That's a wrap on chapter 6 and the Celestial Rebirth arc. I enjoyed getting back into things with this one since it's been a while since I've written something in general. I hope everyone enjoyed this one. We had Karin return and she's doing better, as is the recently promoted Knight Major. More on that in the not too distant future though. Seems Ereshkigal made a blunder and that's what caused his manic state, lucky him that his body sorted things out in the end. At least he's back and made a pretty cool comeback with those new powers of his, though it seemed to wear him out at the end. Other developments were of course the complete destruction of Seraphim by this Vengean under the orders of this Foundation and there's a bunch of other developments I'll let you all speculate about there. Though it seems things aren't looking too well for Saya now by what Karin said at the end and then we had a bunch of small snippets at the end to lay the groundwork for what's to come. I know some of you will enjoy particular ones. But probably the biggest bombshell was probably Lucifer dressed to the nines, walking into a shop, outing Morgana Ley Fay and then recruiting her. It's always interesting when he's around, right? Jokes aside, that's setup for the next arc.**

**But now I just want to apologise for my in-general hiatus here. I really haven't been feeling writing for a while since a certain thing happened I'd rather not talk about but I've also been planning future projects on the side and I moved back home from uni a couple of weeks ago so that took a lot of my time out. I know a lot of people seem to keep wanting more of my stories so it's probably a bummer whenever I do stop so I just feel like explaining myself if I do have a good reason. That said, I hope my readers can accept this next bit. I'm going to be putting Occult Circle on a scheduled hiatus even though it's just come back. I'm doing this so I can give my full attention to other stories without feeling like I'm neglecting this and so I have more time for other side projects I really want to do over the rest of this month and next along with my other stories. So this is officially on hold but I'll give you a date right now you can mark on a calendar if you want and that's the 2nd of August. If I don't release another Occult Circle by then, I'll expect pitchforks and torches at my door. Jokes aside I hope you're all okay with this and if you're a fan of my first series Mythos, then you'll be in for a treat when this returns. Thanks for reading my rambling, oh and my story too!**

**Next Arc: Celestial Convergence**

**Synopsis: Something… Something… Crossover… Something… Something… Arcanaeum**


	7. Chapter 7: Veterans of Legend

Celestial Convergence: Veterans of Legend

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June, Sir Perfluous, decode9 and Taiski for their OC's used in this fic.**

"So now you've returned to the land of the living, you intend to resume your life among the humans; need I remind you why you're even here, servant?" Ereshkigal's ethereal form spoke, her arms folded as she looked pointedly at the young man in the Cadia residence's lounge.

"I know. You've told me how important it is that we find who forced my revival and all that but Lucifer's still the immediate threat. You said you wanted revenge on him too but even with this new strength, I can't exactly walk up to the guy and take him out. I need to rely on my friends first. Together we can figure out who exactly is responsible for all this and stop them. That said, it's not gonna be easy and I need to do things my way." He stood up from the seat and confronted his patron. In addition to his new body, the red ranger had opted to change up his outfit to complete the transformation of a completely 'new him.' Dark jeans and shoes, red button up with a loose collar and rolled sleeves, while very loosely around his unbuttoned collar hanged a skinny black necktie.

She stood silently for a moment before giving a shrug. "I wish you mortals weren't so stubborn but that said, I need your aid to see this through. Very well. I'll permit you to handle this situation with full autonomy, though I will be checking in when I see fit. Remember that time is of the essence. For both our sakes." She said and turned away, her ghostly visage fading to nothingness as she cut off the incorporeal manifestation of herself.

As soon as she had left, Gabriel entered in from the kitchen. "Was someone else here just now? All I heard was you talking to yourself but couldn't make anything out. Is something wrong?" He asked his son. It was still some adjustment having the young man he'd adopted back with him again, especially since Joe's new state as a Dragon in a human form made the previous night since his return interesting. He hoped that the growing pains of the young man's newly acquired powers wouldn't be too hard for him to grasp. Additionally, he especially hoped it wouldn't involve any house fires.

"No everything's fine. I was just calling someone, that's all. Nothing to worry about." He said. The red ranger didn't want to lie to Gabriel. After all they'd been through, it felt wrong to lie to his surrogate father, but he didn't want to approach the dire subject until everyone was present.

Gabriel smiled and nodded. "Okay then, come on, we should start heading for school. It's a new year after all and who knows what could happen."

**[Occult Circle]**

Walking side by side down the halls of Numin High, Ellie and Ray were chatting casually. The two rounded the corner as their conversation shifted to the events of the previous day.

"Honestly I wish I could've seen him go all badass myself. But I get it's not easy to let me tag along when I don't have any protection." Ray said with a passive nod. "Still it'll be good to see him again. I couldn't believe it when you guys told me he was back. I still don't get it but at least he's with us again."

Ellie smiled. "Yeah, he is. Still, I didn't think he'd just fall from the sky and save our skins against that Hobgoblin. I just wish we could've done something against that guy… it kinda pisses me off honestly." She said while looking down at her feet. It wasn't just a feeling she had, her fellow rangers also felt the sting of their overwhelming defeat. When comparing their shoddy combat performance to how Joe effortlessly struck down Dobbs, it hurt to think how seemingly wide the gap was between them and their returned leader. Saya had obviously taken that the worst, with the destruction of her sword and what it must've meant to her, it wouldn't be as easy for her to overcome that feeling of defeat as the others.

She continued walking alongside Ray without looking up, hoping he would say something to cheer her up. She was fond of how happy go lucky her human friend was, his bright outlook on the world she belonged to helped ease her feelings about her Vampiric nature. She expected him to make some sort of reassuring comment to help cheer her up next, but was surprised when her words were met with silence.

Looking up, she saw that Ray had sped ahead of her when she wasn't looking and now was forcing his way through a crowd, one formed strictly of teenage boys. It wasn't too odd but now her friend had ditched her in favour of seeing whatever, or whoever, was surrounded by this crowd. She frowned and pried her way through the crowd to reach the centre where she assumed Ray would be.

As she pushed past, she saw the dumbstruck looks on the faces of her male peers as their gazes all pointed to the same place. It was tough to work through the crowd and her face sank into a frown as she heard the mutters of the teenagers. "Dude, she's so hot!" "I know, just like a model." "You know what, I'm text dumping my girl right now. Wait for me hot girl!" She shook her head severely at that last one. But just who could it be to cause such stupidity?

Finally having broken through, she saw Ray looking just as dumbfounded as he looked at the subject of the crowd's attention with an open mouth. She looked around the age of her other friends, maybe a little older but seemed to be a Junior like the rest of them. Her outfit was quite conservative looking but still had an air of richness and class to it that was unusual to see on high school girls. From her flowy black skirt reaching below her knees, to the black tights that covered her legs and the elegant black flat heeled shoes, she seemed to exude a graceful aura. Her white long sleeved blouse with a thin and rosey pink scarf wrapped her collar completed the appearance and though her figure was expertly covered by her outfit, it seemed to do nothing to dissuade the high school boys entranced by her looks. Her long blonde hair and icy blue eyes gave her a supermodel look that Elli betted the average Numin boy never had a shot with before.

She shook her head and dismissed it as nothing more than boys being hormonal idiots as the girl tried to stave off the advances. She felt a bit sorry for her and elbowed Ray in the side. The least she could do was deal with her friend. Unfortunately, he didn't even react when the elbow made contact. "Ray? Earth to Ray, come in Ray." She said, slightly irritated with his behaviour and general ignoring of her. Waving her hand in front of his face seemed to prove futile as well.

She eyed the serenely smiling young woman suspiciously as she continued to politely turn down the highschoolers. That's when the latter caught' Ellie's gaze out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at her.

"Oh I'm so sorry everyone!" She spoke in a distinctly French accent, though her English was perfect. "I seem to be holding everyone up and causing a commotion. Thank you all for taking an interest in me but I really must leave and find my class. Au revoir!" She waved and slipped through the crowd and into another hallway.

Once she left the sight of the boys who had been looking absently at the direction she left in, they all seemed to blink and have a moment of clarity and looked around completely confused. Similar variants of "What just happened?" seemed to be repeated by the boys who looked around cluelessly. One in particular took out his phone. "Oh my girl's calling me, wonder what this is about." But the crowd quickly dispersed and Ellie was left with Ray who was still trying to recall the last couple of minutes.

"Ellie, did I do something weird? I can't remember a thing. I didn't say anything to you did I?" He asked as he looked clueless.

Ellie folded her arms and looked away dismissive of him. "Not a word." She snorted. As frustrated with his behaviour as she was, she wondered about that girl and if it was her fault that the crowd of highschool boys had behaved like that. Considering their odd behaviour and then complete amnesia afterwards, it was quite circumstantial but if this was a new threat, she had to tell everyone soon.

**[Occult Circle]**

Later on in the day, the male rangers alongside Ray were now stuck in a battle of the fittest. More specifically, they were playing dodgeball. Unfortunately for a certain human, he was stuck on the side that didn't include the supernatural beings he called friends. Max, Joe and the most recent addition to the school, Xander, were all that was left of their team but were effortlessly obliterating the competition. Ray was surprisingly spry, or lucky, that his ranger friends hadn't managed to take him out just yet. Xander was however finding it taxing on his strength to exert so much effort to avoid the balls being thrown his way without being allowed to let them phase through him considering their present surroundings and who could see him.

"That's it guys, keep it up! I wanna see you push yourselves to the limit!" Came the voice of Mr. Tyson Stone from the sidelines. Considering the reputation he had built up over the previous years as a ruthless PE Teacher, the rangers had dreaded it to see his lesson on their schedule for the first day back but so far it had been kind of fun.

As the game continued, Ray had miraculously made it to the end, the only problem was, it was now a three on one and he was vastly outnumbered. Joe, Max and Xander primed their dodgeballs and threw them at the poor human opposite. The three balls spiralled towards their target, moving too quickly for him to react.

"Ow!" The first ball hit his face. "Oof!" The second hit his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "Khhh…" the last one struck a very private place for Ray and forced his collapse to the floor all the while protecting the last point of contact from further injury.

"My bad!" Joe held up his hand apologetically as he and the others tried not to laugh.

Amidst their snickering, Xander nudged the red ranger. "I'm impressed to see your new physical capabilities up close. Compared to how you were before, this is leaps and bounds ahead of what you could do before."

Joe shrugged. "I guess it is but I've been hungry all the time since. You don't think there's a connection do you?" He asked the grey ranger who thought on the question for a few moments.

He shook his head. "Sorry I'm not exactly an expert on resurrection or being alive for that matter, maybe Sera could help you there."

"Maybe you're just hungry all the time because you're a dragon now." Max grinned. "I mean being a Lycan is kind of like that too."

As the victors laughed and celebrated their success in yet another one of Mr. Stone's gruelling PE lessons, the Teacher looked on at the boys. It was still hard to believe they weren't human with the way they acted. To anyone else, they were just normal highschoolers. But when he remembered what he saw them do yesterday, he decided he'd have to pay a visit to his juniors' club soon. After all, he did promise Aaron he'd handle the first meeting. But that could wait until after a certain reunion.

**[Occult Circle]**

"You'll be here in fifteen minutes then? Good to know you can make it. Everyone else already sorted out getting here for tonight. Oh, you want to know about them? Tyson said he'd sort out a meeting but I happened to spot them sitting outside a cafe. Haha, yes I'm being a little nosy but I'm curious myself. The red one in particular seems strong. Okay. Yes I'll keep my head down for now. Can you stop bringing that up? I know it was stupid but that was years ago and I've already learned my lesson. Alright, I see. Well, I'll see you soon, stay safe Missy." Before the other speaker could respond to his last sentence, Aaron Du Lac hung up on them and slid the phone into his pocket.

He leant forward to listen in on the conversation between the Occult rangers present in the seating next to him. The man thought it was amusing how careless they were with saying all this in public without a thought for what could happen if the wrong people caught on but they seem to have been lucky so far. He picked up the cup in front of him and sipped at the tea inside. Aaron's lips twisted slightly and he grimaced. "God I miss British tea."

Across from him, the Occult rangers chatted casually, drinking their coffee, except from Saya who drank a cup of tea too. Although neither her or the man listening knew about the other's reaction, she too grimaced after drinking from the cup. "This is a travesty." She muttered.

As the casual dialogue calmed down, the rangers turned their heads as a familiar face approached and Karin sat down with the group. "Thanks for inviting me guys. It's good to see you all again."

Joe nodded. "Thanks for doing your best to help fix me yesterday. It didn't work but I'm still grateful for you trying." He said with a smile, though as he did, a shooting pain coursed through his head for a moment before passing. "Agh…" He seethed a little and held his head.

"Joe, are you okay?" The white ranger asked as she and the others looked at the red ranger with concern. They still didn't know all the facts of his resurrection and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Their worry in Joe's eyes was unfounded as he shook it off quickly.

"Yeah I'm fine, nothing to worry about." He smiled, this time hoping to reassure them. "Now, there's actually a reason I wanted everyone here too. I wanted my Dad to be here too but he needed to handle something pretty urgent, so it's just us." He said and his smile dropped as he addressed them. "There's something I need to tell you, about my resurrection… and why I was able to come back in the first place."

The red ranger took a breath, preparing himself for what he had to reveal to them, a huge explosion further down the street from the coffee shop they were at erupted out from a parked car. The fireball spread out immensely and caused a chain reaction, taking out several more nearby. The ground shook and the charred metal carcasses of the vehicles flipped and rolled. Mass panic set in and the rangers stood up, setting off to investigate the spontaneous damage. Karin followed behind, hoping to put her skills to use if possible. Unfortunately Joe's announcement as to the nature of his return and what that would mean for them all would have to wait until the current crisis was over.

"Occult Breakout!"

"Celestial Breakout!"

The seven rangers morphed as they sprinted towards the wreckage and panic. From his seat, Aaron watched carefully, hoping it wouldn't have to come to it as he pulled the sword necklace out from under his shirt.

As the rangers made it to the scene, they saw a dark haired woman in her twenties, she had dark makeup on and wore clothing of a gothic fashion. In her hand appeared to be a book that caught Karin's eye. The Mage backed away for the moment, hoping the rangers could properly handle the situation and she wouldn't have to contend with the power this woman held. The rangers however only saw a book covered in strange symbols they didn't recognise.

"Did she get lost on the way to a Cynthia Fawning signing?" Max commented on her overly grim appearance.

"The fact you even know who that is makes me question a lot about you." Ellie said, jeering the amber ranger.

"Hey, for your information it's my sister who likes the books not me!" Max protested.

"And yet none of us suggested you did." Nyssa said, her friend quieting down at her remark. "Now if we're done bantering, can we get back to the crisis at hand?"

"Thanks Nyssa." The red ranger took charge and stepped forward to meet the young woman. "I take it you're the one that did this?"

"Perceptive of you. Now shall we get to business. I'm in a hurry and I have no time to waste on fools like you." She said and turned her gaze to Karin who watched from behind one of the flipped vehicles. "I'll be taking custody of your friend there, she and I have things to do, so move out of the way before I have to kill you."

Saya turned to look at her friend and saw the concerned look in her eyes. When she returned her gaze to the woman, she took a fighting stance. "I'm afraid that Karin doesn't want to leave with you, that means you'll have to fight us if you want her."

The antagonistic woman laughed and released her grip on the book as it magically floated to her side and flipped open to a page containing diagrams of summoning circles. "How cute, you thought I was asking. Foolish child, soon you'll learn that when I say I'm taking something, I always get what I want. Now, fall before the power of a true Sorceress."

She extended her hand and on the tarmac before them, crimson summoning circles bearing demonic scriptures flared to life. Arising from them was a group of no more than ten Chthonian soldiers. Immediately they set their sights on the rangers and charged with their swords.

The rangers quickly raised their weapons and went on the defence, While Joe and Max stood at the front, taking the brunt of the attacks, Nyssa fired arrows from behind, aiming to wear down the enemy forces for her to wear them down. Unfortunately, her arrows seemed to simply bounce off of the vermillion plates that clad the soldiers.

Sprinting away from one that chased her down, Ellie directed her pursuer towards one of the destroyed vehicles. The Chthonian was quick even in all that armour but the crimson ranger's speed easily outclassed the footsoldier's own. She leapt onto the car and spun her dagger into a reverse grip. As the Chthonian swung its blade down on her, she yet again performed another impressive leap into the air where she hung for several moments before beginning her descent.

"Look out below!" She called as she gripped her free hand over the dagger as well, the weapon and her ring resonating with crimson light as she plunged the dagger into the neck of the Chthonian. Her enemy quickly petrified and crumbled as the crimson ranger touched the ground.

She quickly turned around and was unfortunately met with another of the soldiers that slashed her across the chest once. It attempted another as she held up her weapon defensively but it wasn't enough as the hit staggered her. They were tougher than the last ones she'd fought.

Sera swun her sword-spear around, knocking the Chthonian in front of her to the ground. Though it quickly rolled out of the way of her overhead attack that intended to cut straight down its middle. The soldier stood as soon as it was safe and charged Sera. The white ranger attempted to block and focus her power like last time but the strong and relentless attacks were too much for her to keep up with. With each hit, she was pushed back and then, on the next blow, she stepped on some debris and lost her footing. The Angel fell backwards and lost her grip around her weapon. The sword-spear rolled out of reach and the Chthonian stood over Sera, weapon overhead, ready to strike her down.

As the Chthonian soldier began its attack, it suddenly stopped as an arm materialised through the warrior. It grunted in pain as the grey coated arm sporting a wrist mounted blade withdrew from the soldier, tearing through the inside of Lucifer's minion. It screamed out in agony as the creature petrified and crumbled before Sera. Then the grey ranger approached her with a hand held out, her weapon in it.

Sera pulled herself to her feet and quickly took the weapon from her teammate. "Thank you for saving me, I wasn't prepared for how much stronger and capable these particular Chthonians are."

Xander nodded. "It's probably because the last ones we fought were just there to stall us, these ones are here to get rid of us for spooky eyes over there." He said and gestured to the gothic looking Sorceress who looked at the battlefield dismissively.

Nearby, Saya hadn't acted yet. She found it pitiful that she had no weapon to combat the Chthonians with. The blue ranger, despite being one of their strongest, was so weak that her prized sword broke, the sword passed down her line for centuries. Now she was left with the weapon that destroyed her heritage and try as she might to focus and force the Edgeless Blade from within her ring, it simply wouldn't come to her.

She felt useless. "Why won't it come? What made that creature worthy? Why won't you respond to me!? She vented her frustrations as a Chthonian was drawn to her yelling. Then she dawned on it as the soldier began it's advance. She took a breath and tried to summon it using the same phrase her defeated foe had used. "Celestial Gear, Edgeless Cut!"

From her ring erupted a sphere of Divine energy that floated into her palm and took the shape of the weapon from before. Saya quickly brandished the weapon and charged her opponent, expecting to make short work of the enemy. Once she was in range, she swung the weapon with all her might and as it collided…

"Huh?" Saya gasped in shock. The sound of wood hitting metal echoed off the Chthonian's armour and the Edgeless Cut rebounded off of the Infernal bulwark without leaving even a dent. "This thing's made of wood!" SHe expressed her shock. Though the weapon looked authentic, it seemed to be in fact painted to simply appear as if it was made of metal. There was no doubt this was the item that Dobbs had wielded against them but how could it exert such immense power if it couldn't even cut through the thinnest fabric?

As Saya tried to retreat, blocking the blows from the Chthonian as she did, the other rangers were also feeling the wear of battle. From where he guarded against another attack, Joe shook his head. "This isn't good, we can't keep going like this, we need a new strategy." He thought for a moment then looked at Max who held his ground against two of the soldiers. "Max I need a few seconds, think you can hold all three?"

The Lycan nodded and pushed with his weight, forcing the Chthonians back and causing them to stumble. Using that advantage, he attracted the attention of the third with a swing in its direction from his axe. While the other two were recovering, he could at least handle this one.

The red ranger closed his eyes, focusing as he breathed out and ran his hand over the Infinity Saber, focusing on the roaring fire within him and doing his best to picture the manifestation of that power. After the battle against Dobbs, he used his free time the previous evening in an attempt to recreate anything he had done in that battle, yet he had been completely unsuccessful. He hoped this time he could at least muster something. Unlike that fight, he couldn't rely on those base instincts to pull him through the fight.

Then, when he opened his eyes, the blade had ignited, becoming enthralled in a shroud of flames. "Now Max, dodge!" Max stopped pushing against the Chthonian as the other two encroached and immediately rolled to his side. Once he was out of the line of fire, Joe swung the weapon and unleashed a blazing arc towards the three soldiers.

The fire hit them mercilessly as they burned and petrified, quickly dissolving to ash. "Yeah! Nice one Joe!"

As the rangers regrouped to take on the final five Chthonian that also began to regroup, the Sorceress sighed. "Disappointing, I was expecting better. What a waste of time it was toying with you all." She groaned while the floating book at her side flipped over to another page further to the front of the book.

She held her hand out before her as several magical circles formed in front of her targeting her. The dark purple energy they were composed of gave away the death magic she was wielding in that instance. Having experienced it once before against the Fallen Angel Amon, they were worried for what was to come.

The sorceress closed her fist and in the blink of an eye, immense beams of death magic shot out of the circles, decimating the Chthonians and blasting the rangers. They cried out as the blast launched all of them except from Joe into the air. He barely withstood the attack and was still forced to one knee. The others hit the ground hard and their ranger suits dissipated as soon as they landed.

Joe gritted his teeth and stood. Taking a step forward. "I ...can still ...keep- Gah!" He gasped again as a shooting pain hit his chest and he collapsed again, his ranger suit giving out this time.

"What was that? It sounds like you've bitten off more than you can chew. Pathetic." She smugly lauded it over them as she began to walk towards Karin. "Now you, we're going to have a nice long talk about Arcanaeum and the Sable Vault." Her lips curled as she stepped past the defeated Occult rangers and towards her quarry, who stepped backwards, hoping she could make an escape without needing to use her magic offensively.

Before either could make a move however, the Sorceress' eyes caught a glimpse of another figure approaching. Her face quickly turned to a scowl and she met the man's gaze. The rangers turned to look and saw the man they only recognised as the one from the coffee shop who sat near them. In his hand was a strange device shaped like a crossguard, the sword shaped amulet was gone from around his neck and now rested inside the hilt of the device. Aaron Du Lac had a determined look as he approached.

"YOU! Here to ruin my plans again!?" The Sorceress scowled and readied the grimoire at her side as it flipped to a new page.

"You've committed a lot of crimes Morgana, hurt a lot of people. You're not going any further though. Our battle ends here!" As the rangers wondered what Aaron was talking about, he swung the crossguard horizontally from his right, leaving a line of red energy with the swing. "Templar Power!" He swung a second time vertically from overhead, leaving another line of red energy and forming a cross with the two lines that now intersected. "Activate!" He declared and lunged the Templar morpher into the cross, which drew towards him and over his body before dissipating.

The fallen Occult rangers looked on with a mix of shock and awe. "Another ranger? Here?" Xander muttered, completely perplexed by the sudden turn of events.

In all his splendour, the Templar ranger stood like the visage of a holy knight. The base of the suit was a silvery grey while his chest was covered with a light armoured silver chestplate that was designed to only protect his upper body. Since his last use of this form, he had grown nostalgic for the older design and recalled the modifications he had asked for were completed over a week ago. Where once there was a fireball etched into the chestplate, there was now the shape of a longsword pointing downwards coloured bright red upon the armour and his abdomen was now sufficiently protected by a light sheet of silver plate. His shoulders were covered by light, silver pauldrons. His gauntlets were now a heavier variant like his original appearance, while he retained the lighter cladding of silver kneepads and foot plating on his white boots. His belt now bore the visage of a Templar cross coloured red and outlined in white while his helmet was unrecognisable to anyone who had seen it before. Gone were the extra greebles. Now the silvery grey helmet bore only a Templar cross shaped visor outlined in silver. At his waist, he gripped the hilt of his ancestral sword, Arondight. It wasn't the strongest sword but he wanted to finish this properly without risking his trump card.

The Templar ranger drew the longsword and pointed it at Morgana. The fallen rangers still couldn't believe seeing the mighty visage of this mysterious and unknown ranger that had jumped into the fray against the deadly Witch Morgana Le Fay. The Sorceress scowled as she utilised the book once more and conjured a bleak sword made of thorns and charged at Aaron.

"Very well, I'll slaughter you with this! Face it Templar ranger, you're nothing compared to me, swordsmanship or magic, you'll always be lesser!" She tried to psyche out her opponent as their blades lashed out at each other.

The fierce exchange of blows was difficult for most of the downed rangers to follow, though Saya was managing if just barely. "Their exchange of blows is impressive, whoever he is, the swordsmanship he displays is far above that of the average fighter."

"I have a feeling he isn't just any Power Ranger." Nyssa took insight from her own powers, as did Sera. They both sensed a powerful aura that clashed against the Witch's own. Both were on another level compared to what the Occult rangers were used to.

Then the two blades and their wielders clashed again and closed in. "You might be a powerful Witch, Morgana. Your sword skills are definitely enough to contend with me… Yet there's one thing you're forgetting."

"Huh? Are you making a fool of me?" She snarled and lunged three times, forcing the Templar ranger to retreat out of the range of her intense attacks.

"You haven't noticed yet? We rangers always work together." He held his sword in a guard as she tried to attack again.

Before she could however, she gasped out as a powerful magical projectile composed of green energy struck her in the back and knocked her to the ground. She shot a murderous glare at the perpetrator and somehow became even more furious. The downed rangers shifted their glances to where Morgana directed their fury and saw yet another figure, this one clad in a green ranger suit while a staff rested in her hand.

"Hey Bro, am I late to the party?" She addressed the Templar ranger though despite her apparent relation, her accent was nothing like his stereotypically British one. Instead sounding naturally American. It began to cause the Occult rangers a headache of who, what, how, why on top of everything else already; that they really wanted answers once this was over.

For now, the Templar ranger just nodded to her. "It's good to see you again too, Missy."

**|Occult Circle|**

**Underworld Tea - Regarded as the greatest teas to ever exist. (although I'm sure you can find a Brit to disagree and name a certain popular tea brand, named after a certain county as the best, they're stubborn like that.) The brand has been selectively bred for centuries to improve on the taste, aroma and several other important factors that can only ever be understood by drinking said tea. Having said that, Underworld tea zealots have grown such a love for tea that on several occasions now, the Demon Kings of the Underworld have had to put down revolts that aim to take over their kingdoms in order to facilitate the invasion of the Earthly realm so they can spread the joy of their brand to the humans. As ridiculous as this is to believe, it is suspected that if the humans in the United States ever learned of this fact, they would be thankful that they didn't have to suffer such a glorious fate- I mean dystopian lifestyle as all of their coffee was burned before their eyes and the best tea in the universe was shoved down their throats.**

**Okay, that was Chapter 7 and I'm terribly sorry that I couldn't get it out when I said. Honestly it's frustrating that I couldn't. First it was because I was too exhausted to finish the chapter before the deadline. Then I needed more time to recover from some fatigue that had set on around that time and then unfortunately I had the inescapable issue of the fact I needed to get things for Uni sorted and I hadn't properly planned for that when considering doing the whole 5th anniversary of putting a bunch out for you all. I'm deeply sorry I couldn't keep that promise since it's on me, exhaustion aside. And honestly it's frustrating I couldn't do it, but I hope you're happy with this chapter anyway. I wasn't happy with what I had before I paused this chapter so I rewrote it from the ground up today.**

**So it seems that things are starting to get interesting, Ellie and Ray ran into the girl teased in the last chapter and something seems up there, then the poor guy got wrecked in dodgeball. And while not a reveal it is a confirmation that Tyson is Numin High's PE Teacher. I've dropped his name as Mr. Stone a few times before, starting in the chapter Matt was introduced in the first volume actually. That might give you a clue of how far back I've been waiting to write this, lol. Then the rangers were about to get to important matters until Morgana crashed to party and came after Karin because of her connections to Arcanaeum and the Sable Vault. She also showed her immense power against the rangers here but luckily Aaron arrived in the nick of time and morphed this time, I had some fun making a few design changes there. Then out of nowhere a certain someone also came to back him up. For fans of Mythos, you'll know who. If you haven't read Mythos, please do, it's not as well polished as Occult Circle but I hope you can still enjoy it. Also there's a little reference to another story that isn't mine in here somewhere I just wanted to do for fun.**

**Anyway, so yeah five years (and a month, almost two) it's been a long journey so far and while I said most of this in another story, thank you all for reading. From the bottom of my heart. Whether you're new or you've stuck with me for five years waiting for your latest fix of my stories, I appreciate it so much. Without all your support as readers and friends, I doubt I'd be the man I am today and be where I am now. This has seriously changed my life for the better. And I hope you'll all keep supporting me from here on too.**

**Speaking of support, it'd mean a lot to me if you'd Check out my other story if you haven't yet that I did manage to release on the intended date, Ultraman Einherjar. It's based on Norse, Germanic and old english mythology set in a post-apocalyptic world. There's a lot of similar themes in it to Occult Circle and the first episode has one of my favourite fight scenes to write ever. I'll probably be updating that next too since I want to get back to it. With that said, thanks for reading and until next time!**

**Next Chapter: Clash of Myths and Magic**

**Synopsis: As the mysterious Templar ranger battled Morgana, a second ranger unknown to the Occult rangers entered the fray, with their power combined, they push back the Witch, momentarily. Morgana is relentless though and will stop at nothing to get at what she wants. In order to combat her, the two rangers must ally with the younger rangers. Though their power combined won't be enough and as the battle escalates, the convergence of more legends is merely a matter of time. Next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.**


	8. Chapter 8: Clash of Myths and Magic

Celestial Convergence: Clash of Myths and Magic

**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June, Sir Perfluous, decode9 and Taiski for their OC's used in this fic.**

"Urgh, I told you to stop calling me that!" The green ranger groaned. The Occult rangers still conscious could make out her suit now she had joined the battle properly, the woman behind the armour striding over to aid Templar ranger in his fight.

Her base suit consisted of a long sleeved white undershirt while a collared and unbuttoned green waistcoat was worn over it, the jacket's edges falling back to their respective sides on the ranger's body. Her right arm was covered by a myriad of golden scale mail armour pieces, fashioned in the shapes of leaves, it offered much coverage without weighing her down. Her left arm however was wrapped in a greenish silken sleeve Her gloves were also green and form fitting, whilst a golden twine banding was wrapped around her wrists. Her legs were covered in a darker shade of green and bore more twine banding around her mid-shins; whilst a belt of the same golden twine wrapped around her waist, a golden leaf shaped buckle rested at the centre. The helmet she wore was the same green as her waistcoat and bore a visor shaped like a leaf that was surrounded with a golden trim. Unlike the Templar ranger, she had a small silvery mouthpiece underneath the visor, similarly outlined in gold, that rested below her visor. Though perhaps the most striking part of the ensemble was the dark green hood that rested over her helmet and the flowing cape that matched it, the latter draping from over her shoulders and down to her mid-thigh. In her left hand and propped up on the tarmac was a magical staff formed of entwined branches that held a crystal which resonated with green energy. The legendary staff of nature, Thyrsus.

Morgana scowled at the two. "Of course you two would show up again to ruin my plans… Of course! First in Castelan, then at Somerset Valley, then when I finally took back my Grimoire! I've had it with you two and your friends constantly meddling with my plans… I'm going to obliterate you both where you stand!" She snapped and dispersed her thorny sword.

The hovering grimoire flipped its pages at her getsure. The Templar ranger looked to the green ranger at his side and raised his guard. "Artemis, do you have anything strong enough to withstand her attacks?"

The green ranger shrugged. "I know enough defensive spells by now but if it's a repeat of last time…" She shook her head. "We need to stay on our toes. That Grimoire makes her unpredictable."

Aaron nodded as Morgana generated sparks in her semi-open palm before she flicked a jolt of electricity at the ranger. He rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the attack and landed on one knee, his sword held defensively. "Acknowledged. I'll try and draw the brunt of her attacks, you lay down defensive spells until you see your opening." He said and took off, charging the villainess as soon as both his feet were on the ground.

Once again the Grimoire's pages flipped and an earthy yellow magical circle formed underneath Morgana's feet. With a stomp of her foot, heavy vibrations struck the ground and a quake shook the already battered road the Templar ranger was running down. He quickly lost his balance on this new uneven battlefield and the Grimoire flipped to yet another page.

As the quakes finally made their way to Artemis, she slammed the end of her staff into the tarmac and Thyrsus' crystal resonated with greenish light. Whatever power it held over nature seemed to calm the rumbling earth and allowed Aaron to regain his footing. He looked forward and prepared to press toward Morgana but as he did so, the Sorceress had completed her next casting and sent a hurtling comet of dark energy straight at the ranger.

He gripped his ancestral blade with two hands and braced himself to take the brunt of the attack, if he and Artemis could hold the line for a little longer, they'd have the advantage. Though as it reached him, the comet met resistance and collided with an aquamarine barrier of energy. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked over to his sister.

"Thanks!" He said but the green ranger shook her head.

"That one wasn't me." She said and continued on her way to her ambush point towards the back of Morgana, the vile Witch seemingly unaware of her presence.

Aaron then looked behind where Artemis had been standing and saw who had in fact cast the magical ward. Karin was still crouched behind the wrecked car but her focus was entirely on the fight. That's when Morgana's intent clicked in his head and he gripped Arondight tighter and charged again.

He closed the distance as the green ranger finally took her position and nodded to her brother. At that exact moment, the Sorceress turned her back from the swordsman and faced her other foe directly. Artemis froze for a moment.

"What? Did you really think your plan would work? You're centuries too young to outsmart me, you foolish child. Just because you have my blood running through your veins doesn't mean you have an ounce of the talent needed to wield such power." She scowled and her pages flipped again as several homing missiles of magical energy were unleashed at a wave of her hand.

Artemis took a step back and focused her energy. She reactively channeled wind magic to her feet and took a leap, gliding backwards through the air as her cape fluttered behind her. That extra time as the missiles closed in on her gave her a chance to defend against the blow as she landed on the ground a good ten feet from her original position. She quickly channeled magic into her cape and flung the cloth in front of her. It began to glow as magic reinforced the fabric just as the missiles hit their mark. Each exploded on the green ranger's position and flooded the spot with smoke.

The area was obscured for several seconds while Morgana wore a vicious smile. Though it soon lowered once the smoke dispersed and she saw that Artemis' cloak had withstood the blast. She flicked her cape back to its original position and Aaron, who had stopped to recalculate now the Witch had targeted his sister, could hear the grin she must have had as she made her next retort. "What was that about having no talent again?"

Morgana's fury built and gave Artemis the opening she needed, even without her distraction, she could see she'd touched a nerve. She span her staff around in her hand and levelled it towards the Sorceress. With a thrust, an intense gale of wind unleashed and hit Morgana, one of the gusts slicing into her cheek.

Morgana's rage built as the attack subsided. "You marked me… I'll make you pay for that, you little b-" She was cut short as the Templar ranger's gauntlet connected with her face and knocked her spinning to the ground.

"For a great sorceress, you should probably be more mindful of your surroundings." Aaron said as his sister breathed a sigh of relief as they successfully subdued the Witch.

She rejoined her brother in front of the sprawled out form of their old enemy whose head was pointed towards the still onlooking Karin. "Nice catch, now let me see if I can figure out this spell. I made sure to practice it really hard just in case we ever came across her again ...but I still don't know if it'll work." Artemis shrugged and began to focus deeply on the spell she was attempting to cast.

As she did, Morgana shook her head vehemently. "Not… again… useless mortal children… I shouldn't keep relying on such weak hosts…" Then she saw Karin and grinned as she began desperately clawing her way over. If only she could get close enough, the Witch could transfer her essence directly into her target and succeed in her goals at the same time.

Aaron saw her attempts and was about to stop her. "Artemis, you might want to hurry up." He started towards the Sorceress when an arrow shot down into the road, right in front of Morgana's face. She gritted her teeth as she and her foes looked towards the pink shafted arrow.

Their attention was drawn toward a row of two story buildings not far from their battle and the five silhouettes stood atop. Morgana shook her head vigorously again. "I won't lose like this! We'll meet again, rangers, mark my words!" She screamed as the pages of her Grimoire flipped violently as a dark tar-like substance amassed around the form of the Sorceress and she quickly sunk into the ground before either of the rangers present could properly react.

Aaron let out an exasperated sigh and sheathed his weapon. "She escaped. Again."

Artemis halted the process of the spell she was casting and let her staff stand loosely in her hand. "Yeah… But at least we managed to take her down with just the two of us. Now the gang's all here, we might have a chance to take her down for good."

Her brother nodded and looked over to the downed rangers as he saw the silhouetted figures that had been on the rooftop approach the downed forms of the Occult rangers, most who had lost consciousness at this point, while the rest were barely holding on. He held a hand to the side of his helmet. "Everyone, please evacuate them to the Numin Branch and take them to the medical bay, I'll escort back the girl Morgana was after myself." He spoke over the comms.

"There he goes being the starwalt knight again. Better be careful leader, or you might end up in the doghouse again!" A cocky feminine voice called back and he shook his head.

"Come on Lex, leave him alone, we all know he's too dense to be one of those guys anyway!" A carefree male voice responded.

"Can you please stop bringing that up? I'm never going to live it down, am I?" Aaron shook his head as he approached Karin, the young woman easing up at the sight of the ranger as she came out from behind the wrecked car.

There was a giggle over the channel and another voice, belonging to a different woman, spoke next. "To be fair, there were some _very_ obvious hints thrown your way."

With that the Templar ranger swiftly closed his comm channel and refused to continue that particular conversation. He looked to the young woman who stared at his armour, no doubt curious and perplexed as to its origin. "Power down." He said as the ranger form evaporated in a flash of red light and left him standing as he appeared before he charged into the battle.

Karin looked at him pointedly, hands on her hips. "Mind explaining what the hell just happened?"

**[Occult Circle]**

"Uhh… what the…" Xander groaned as he sat himself up blinked as he got his bearings. The grey ranger looked around his surroundings to find himself in an enclosed space within a much larger room. What towered over the obscuring temporary hospital screen blinders were large warehouse shelves containing crates and boxes of varying size. He was uncertain but it appeared to be the same basement where they had unsuccessfully fought against Lucifer not so long ago.

He sat himself up in the enclosed medical setup and looked around it to find it vacant of his allies, all except for Joe, who was still unconscious on the bed at the other end of the room. Xander took to his feet and walked over to his friend. It took a moment for him to stabilize his form so as not to phase through the floor and summed up that he must have sustained great damage for him to have taken longer than most of his allies to wake up. He found it odd though that Joe hadn't fully recovered yet. Even if he was different from before his return, Xander still couldn't fully grasp what those changes meant for the red ranger in the long run. It seemed there were still too many unknowns with his return and Xander would have to keep an eye on him once he finally woke.

"Oh good, you're finally awake." The calming voice of a woman took Xander from his thoughts. He looked to see a woman with blonde hair tied up into a very prim and proper bun. Her clothes marked her as a very professional person in Xander's mind. A white collar blouse and a black pencil skirt alongside her short heeled shoes. She stood holding a tablet resting in her arm while she ran her free hand across the surface as she read the details.

"Could you tell me what's going on? How did we get here and where are the rest of my allies?" He said, understandably on edge. Even with the woman's welcoming bedside manner, he was cautious of anything out of the ordinary after waking from their defeat. He still recalled the arrival of that unknown ranger but beyond that, everything was a mystery.

She smiled warmly. "Don't worry, your friends are safe. They're in the main section getting caught up by the rest of us." She then looked over to Joe. "Your other friend here…" Her smile dropped. "His vitals were haywire when we brought you all in. We had to sedate him for now just while we understand what's going on but as we learned, his physiology and all of yours even; they aren't human. So there's only so much we could do before it turned into a waiting game."

Xander eased up. "I see." He hoped Joe would be alright but for now, he needed a full grasp of the situation. "So, who are you and these 'others' you mentioned."

She motioned to the opening in the blinders. "Come with me and see." She said and Xander followed her out into the aisles of containers that confirmed his location. He was definitely back in the basement of Novaton's Museum. "I'm Emlie. I'm not a medical doctor, but I'm the best on hand and I have some experience, so I took care of you all while you were out." She introduced herself as they walked.

Her choice of words seemed slightly odd to Xander. "Not a medical doctor?" He asked as they turned down one of the aisles.

She nodded. "I'm a licensed therapist. Basically a doctor for what's going on with your head instead of your body." She summed up. Knowing his non-human nature, Emlie thought it helpful to offer an explanation in case he didn't understand.

"I see…" Was all the grey ranger muttered as he thought over that for a moment. He had resolved to wait for an opportune time to figure out a method to deal with _that_ particular issue he was going through. Though it seemed now an opportunity had found him. Still, he thought it best to wait until the present situation had been resolved.

Eventually, the two entered out into the circular open space where they had confronted and lost against Lucifer. Though the damage from the fight remained, it seemed as if there had been additions since his last visit. Primarily the field setup of computers on one desk, heavy books of unknown origin and purpose on another while an array of equipment crates had been scattered around the area. The man from before, who had saved the Occult rangers sat in a chair by the computer setup.

He was working away at the keyboard in front of him and didn't seem to be paying attention to the goings on around him. Xander found his teammates sat on some of the crates while another person that he hadn't seen before, at least outside of her morphed form before he lost consciousness, leant against a stack of boxes. She seemed a little younger than the other adults, and stood around 5'7". Her skin had a light tan to it and her body was built somewhat muscularly. She had long dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. The woman's clothes were quite earthy in tone; a green tank top, chocolate brown knee high skirt, black ankle boots and a leaf shaped necklace.

She turned her head towards Emlie and smiled, nodding to her and then acknowledging Xander as he approached his group. "Hey Em! Is he the last to wake up?"

The other woman shook her head. "There's still the one we had to sedate, he hasn't improved. I don't think I can do anything else for him either." She relayed the news. Emlie left the Occult rangers in the care of her friend, walking over to where Aaron worked.

"Okay…" She muttered before turning to face the gathered rangers. Unsurprisingly, their faces betrayed their worry. "So since you're pretty much all here, I should probably introduce myself again. I'm Artemis, rising star of the singing scene and the Mythos rangers' very own Dryad ranger." She smirked, likely proud of her own introduction in front of her juniors.

"Mythos rangers? How haven't I heard of them before? Acumen has details on every recorded ranger team in history. It's impossible to think one would have slipped our radar." Xander asked, scratching his chin at the perplexity.

Max also nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure the ever invasive eyes of the media would've at least caught you guys once. If you guys hadn't come save us before, I wouldn't believe you right now."

Nyssa shrugged. "I'm sure there are others out there that operate like we do. After all, a sizable number of our past battles have occurred at night or in secluded areas. That's not even mentioning our multiple excursions to the Underworld."

"Don't worry about it!" Artemis waved it off. "We used a pretty powerful magical artefact at the end of our final battle, not important, but basically a tradeoff was that all the events that lead up to that moment kinda got forgot about. So yeah, not many people know about us but we still did our part, that's what matters!" She said with a cheesy grin and gave them a thumbs up.

From where she sat, the blue ranger sighed and nodded. "I see. Then could you explain who that woman who came after my friend was? What's her aim in coming after Karin?"

Artemis half shrugged. "Well we don't know exactly why she came for her, but after we beat her down, she tried possessing your friend. You might have heard my brother go all divine crusader before you lost consciousness and shout all that 'stop right there Morgana! Your crimes end here!'" She put on a falsetto deep voice to imitate the man, who was thankfully out of earshot. "She's the ancient Sorceress Morgana Le Fey. Yeah, that one. She doesn't have a body so she possesses the bodies of Witches to further her goals. Even if they're her own descendants." She added while pointing to herself.

The crimson and amber rangers' mouths were agape. Being the only natively Earth born Occult rangers who would know the legends, it was quite a shock, while the others didn't think much of it. "Holy crap, Morgana Le Fey is real!? And you're her descendant!?" Ellie blurted out, not sure how to process that information.

Artemis laughed. "Yeah, I was kinda freaked out too when I found out about it. Or maybe that was just the magical puberty I was going through at the time." She said so casually that some of the rangers listening worried how often she referred to it as that.

"That's all very interesting, miss Artemis." Sera said. "We're all worried how she might attack next. We know that Karin is currently helping to set up wards around the Museum to protect it from her, but we don't know what she'll plan to do next.

"That's where we come in." Another voice cut in as they saw Emlie and Aaron stood either side of the Dryad ranger but their attention focused on the burly figure standing like a tower behind Artemis.

"Mr. Stone!?" The collective shout of surprise came from the group. Despite their true nature, they were still high schoolers and the shock of seeing their most feared teacher in front of them was a sight to behold as Tyson chuckled. "Relax. I already know everything they do. After all, I used to be the yellow Mythos ranger. That doesn't mean I'm just a PE Teacher now though." He looked to Aaron. "How's Joe doing? It was kind of a shock when you said, especially after what we saw last time."

The Templar ranger shrugged. "Can't say for certain." He looked to the other rangers. "For now, it's a waiting game with your friend. We'll do what we can but whatever is happening, I don't think human doctors can do anything. But Karin has offered to help in whatever way she can. I've heard rumors of Arcanaeum's mages, so perhaps we can figure out something." He offered a sympathetic smile.

Saya grimaced. His return in itself was a blessing she didn't expect and she was still unsure how she really felt about his return beyond being concerned. It was abrupt, chaotic and nothing made sense. Not why, what or how. Now to add to those questions was the worry that something bad was happening again, as if his return was just a cruel trick after she managed to confront her feelings and finally let him go. It was almost overwhelming for her but she had to keep a strong front, because she didn't doubt for a second that her friends were doing the same. She hoped Karin could figure something out, so she could confront her feelings again and with any look, accept Joe's resurrection for what it is.

Aaron spoke again. "So, I should explain how we're going to deal with Morgana. While we all have our own paths to follow in life, the collective Mythos rangers belong to an organisation called LARPA. We recover and protect Legendary Artefacts from villains who wish to use them for evil. Currently our yellow and black rangers are out searching for leads on her whereabouts, on the off-chance we can strike first. Then our blue and pink rangers are guarding the museum whilst Karin sets up her wards."

"Wait. I thought you said you were the yellow ranger." Nyssa looked to Tyson who chuckled.

"Was as in past tense, miss Alycone. Don't think about it too much. Just think of me as a civilian helper now. But I'm still one of your ranger seniors so none of you better disappoint me, or it'll be laps for a week!" He burst out laughing again while his friends gave the Occult rangers a look of concern.

"Sometimes I wonder how you managed to get your teaching license." Emlie said.

Aaron cleared his throat, eager to return to discussing their plans. "Back to the topic at hand, Tyson is going to go talk with his contact with the Police. With any luck they'll have a report on unusual happenings. Artemis, you're to remain here as part of our defence. I doubt she'd risk attacking if she senses your presence here. Emlie, remain on standby in case Joe's condition worsens and help Karin if she needs anything. I'll be coordinating everything from the computers here."

The room went silent for a few moments before Ellie finally spoke up. "What about us? We want to do something too, especially after that Witch wiped the floor with us." The others looked adamant they did something too.

"If she's the reason for what's happening to our Leader right now, then there's no way we're not doing something!" Max raised his voice, unusually determined now.

Emlie smiled and turned to the Templar ranger. "Remind you of anyone? It wouldn't hurt to at least involve them."

He sighed and dropped his head. "Very well… When we battle Morgana, we'll let you join us. But for now, please go home and rest. It's been a rough day for you all and you're best off fighting Morgana when you're back to full strength. Even if you're not human, you still shouldn't push yourself to the limit."

Before anyone could respond, a clear "no" came out of the blue ranger's mouth. She shook her head. "I-we can't leave Joe here by himself. We just got him back again and regardless of why… We just can't leave him on his own again."

Sera quickly put her hand on the girl's shoulder to comfort her. "It's okay Saya. I know you're worried but please, go home. Leave this to me. I'll stay in your stead." She flashed a warm smile as Saya was about to protest. "You should be more honest with us. I'll watch over him, so don't worry."

Try as she might, the blue ranger couldn't think of an excuse as to why it had to be her without saying something embarrassing. But she did understand why Sera offered. Better to put herself through seeing Joe in such a state than someone else she cared about. Once again, the white ranger's noble heart saved Saya from hurting herself. "Very well. Please look after him.

The white Occult ranger nodded and then the remaining Occult rangers began to depart from the warehouse basement, though Xander idled behind. He looked to the Templar ranger and spoke. "If it isn't a problem, could I stay behind for a little longer and hear about your team? I think there's a lot we can learn about each other's exploits."

"I'm sure you have stories that would surprise me too. I'd be more than happy to talk while we wait for updates from my team."

**[Occult Circe]**

"I have our new friends with us. But you're certain?" Aaron held a phone to his ear as he, Artemis and the Occult rangers; minus Joe and Sera, sprinted down the streets of Numin in the early hours of the day, while the sun was barely beginning to rise. It had been abrupt and as soon as the incident had been detected, both teams had embarked to meet the rising problem.

"Sorry to say but it looks like Morgana isn't gonna play fair this time either." The male voice that had spoken to him at the end of their last encounter with the Sorceress said over the other end, though he sounded much more serious than before. "But yeah, two big spikes of magical energy just erupted at the same time. One's on the outskirts while the other's situated in the city."

"Understood. At least we won't have to keep searching for her ourselves. We'll handle the situation in the City, I'll count on the rest of you to fight off whatever's happening outside it."

"Just leave it to us, we're not totally useless without you after all." He said with a laugh and hung up on the Templar ranger.

It took them only a few minutes to reach the site of the magical eruption. It was down an older street, more specifically, right in front of an antique shop laden with decor and goods of a more supernatural feel. And right in front of the door, with all the smugness and overconfidence she could bring to bear, Morgana Le Fey stood while the grimoire at her side flipped around rapidly to different pages.

While Saya stepped forward, taking charge of her friends, the two veterans held back as Artemis gave an uneasy look to her brother. "Something about this feels wrong. First the big magic sign she put up for us to track, now standing right in the open."

He nodded, narrowing his eyes at the sorceress. "I've got a bad feeling about this too." He said, gripping his hilt-like morpher.

The Dryad ranger did the same, holding her golden box-like morpher at her side, intricately carved with a myriad of nature related symbology. Though they waited as the Witch's grimoire finally stopped flipping and the Occult rangers brandished their rings.

"What did you do to him?" Saya scowled, staring death into the eyes of her new foe. Though there was no answer. "Answer me!" She demanded. Though Morgana shut her eyes for a moment and tilted her head.

"Oh I see, your stupid little friend. That's who you mean." Morgana said as the blue Occult ranger took a step back and her face betrayed pain as she held her hand to her head.

"Saya, are you alright?" Nyssa asked before turning to their foe with an intense glare. "What are you doing to her?"

"Oh just a little mind probing. After all, I want to be certain everything is perfect for what's about to come." She finally opened her eyes and Saya's pain seemed to subside. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it? Now as for your friend, I didn't do anything, no his condition is all his own fault, I'd say. In fact you should all just give up on worrying about him." She pointed her deadly gaze at the blue ranger once again. "Especially you, my dear, after all… how many times has worrying about a worm like that hurt you by now?" Her lips curled as the pages flipped again.

"Take… back…" She muttered, her ring flaring with blue energy. The others noticed and triggered their own rings in preparation to morph.

"What was that, girl? I couldn't hear your pathetic begging, so could you please speak up this time?"

"I said… Take back what you just said!" She finally looked up and in a burst of blue light, she morphed into the blue Occult ranger, the Edgeless Cut already grasped firmly in her hand as she lunged right at the malevolent Sorceress. Though what was different about it this time was that it flourished with Divine energy.

Whatever the trigger, the sword was currently working in the same manner as it had done for the Hobgoblin she'd claimed it from. That was all the prompt both the Occult rangers and their new allies needed to spring into action themselves.

"Occult Breakout!"

"Templar Power, Activate!"

"Druidic Energies Unleash!" Artemis called at last and an overgrowth of vines and other plants began to snake out from her morpher and coil around her form until she was completely enshrouded. Then, they began to glow, until it all melded into a single bright green silhouette of energy. At the brink of brightness, it burst into particles, leaving her covered by her ranger form.

Without a strict battle plan, they rushed toward Morgana, who floated back away from Saya's lunge, having dodged the attack completely. The blue Occult ranger straightened up and held the Edgeless Cut with both hands.

"Everyone…" She raised a hand to halt their advance. "She's lured us here so that we're away from the museum and Karin… She was after that information inside my head. Someone needs to go back there. Now!" She warned, taking a moment to calm herself after her outburst. As much as she wanted to rip the Witch's throat out, she couldn't allow her emotions to be used against her yet again.

"Understood, I'll return there immediately, Artemis I want you to stay and-" The Templar ranger's orders were cut short as Morgana grinned and snapped her fingers.

"Oh, I think not." She said as a large purple barrier encircled and closed up overhead. The dome of energy completely cut them off from the rest of the world. Artemis held her hand to her ear but was only receiving static. "Unfortunately for you, you'll not be reaching any of your friends any time soon. Now, let's begin this little play." She said and flicked her wrist as the pages of the grimoire began flipping rapidly once more.

"Brace yourselves everyone, her power isn't to be underestimated." Aaron warned.

Ellie shrugged behind her crimson armour. "Yeah we kinda felt it the first time."

"I'll do my best to draw her attention." Nyssa said, unfurling her wings and taking off as high as she could get without hitting the boundary. She drew her bow and readied to fire. Max and Ellie stood either side of Saya as the blue ranger prepared to lead the vanguard. Max just behind their formation with his crossbow loaded. Artemis gripped her staff firmly and began to channel her own magical energy to combat her ancestor. While everyone took their places, the Templar ranger had shifted to an orthodox swordsman's stance. It didn't seem like he wanted to risk anything by adding unnecessary flare either.

Morgana's grimoire finished flipping again and above her, she summoned floating javelins made of some unknown blackened rock that gleamed with how sharp they had been made. Saya sucked in a breath, her emotions were still high and adrenaline coursed through her whole body. "Occult Circle, take action!"

**[Occult Circle]**

As the two groups worked separately to deal with the different surges of magic that now occupied them, Tyson Stone was sat in their field base, operating the computer for any more odd signs. Though he was supposed to be coordinating both teams, it was odd how both had gone quiet and his attempts to raise them had raised a few concerns.

He sighed and slumped back in the chair. "Damn, now I kinda wish I was out there with 'em." He grumbled.

Though as he sat there, he shuddered when a chill ran up his spine. He turned around and stood up as he saw a bright white sigil glowing brightly on the floor. Though the menacing presence he felt didn't seem to come from this. If anything, it looked to be weakening as cracks started to form in the magical seal. It was likely one of Karin's wards and something was quickly breaking through it.

Tyson quickly dropped into a combat stance. As the final cracks formed, the whole seal shattered and a crimson aura sigil formed on the ground, from which Lucifer raised up and the former yellow Mythos ranger felt his muscles seize as an overwhelming presence of malice washed over him.

"What the hell… I can't move…" Tyson struggled out as he dropped to his knees and Lucifer saw him. The Archdemon smirked.

"Looks like another human fell before my splendour. Luckily Morgana's tricks paid off. I won't have to deal with the same hassle as last time while I retrieve her new pawn. Such a headache to deal with this, but all for the greater goal." He absentmindedly said to himself as he walked off in the direction of the medical bay.

Completely unaware of his presence for the moment and far too wrapped up in a present ordeal, Karin and Sera watched over the still comatose Joe. While the latter girl prayed for a safe recovery as she sat at her oldest friend's side, the young mage held out her hand as motes of silvery magic drew out from her towards the red ranger's form. She continued this process for a few more moments before closing her hands and ending the spell.

"That's the last one I had to try. It's designed more towards healing spiritual damage but I want to cover all the bases. I can't really tell what's going on with him since I've never had to treat a Dragon but still… I think he's got a good chance of waking up now." She smiled as Sera ended her prayer and looked to Karin and nodded her gratitude.

"Thank you, I'm sure with your insight, you know what it'd mean to her if we lost him again."

"It doesn't take a genius to know that girl's heart." She said with a wink. "But I can tell how much he means to you all, looks like your bonds are all really strong." There was a moment of silence while Karin stared into space. Finally, she gave Sera a serious look. "Hey, when I go back, can you look after Saya for me, please? I know it might not be for a while yet but still, she's going through some stuff right now and could always do with another shoulder to cry on. That girl worries me more than she knows…"

"Of course, I'd be more than happy to." Sera immediately responded to the request. As she did, the form of the red ranger began to stir and the two turned their attention to him.

"Amazing… to think he's waking up so soon after I treated him." Karin murmured to herself as they watched.

"Argh… Why do I feel worse than that time I got eaten?" He groaned as he opened his eyes. He sat up and stared blankly at the beaming white ranger and the relieved look that Karin wore. "So I take it we didn't win?"

"I'll tell you later… just get some more rest for now." Sera smiled and stood up, about to make her way over to Tyson, hoping to relay the good news to her friends. That was her plan at least, before the familiar feeling hit her and she gave a panicked look to her companions. "No… Lucifer's here!"

There was a shift in the air as a thunderous clap was heard. Within seconds, the curtains that fenced off the medical bay were knocked down as Lucifer skidded to a halt with his unfurled crimson wings. "Ah, I was afraid you might have felt my presence so soon. Well, let's make this quick. I don't want to hurt you if I don't have to." He flung out his hand at Sera.

As he did so, black iron chains that radiated crimson energy coiled up from the floor, having just manifested, and wrapped around her body, completely immobilising her. "Why are you here? What could you possibly need from us? And why not just harm me?"

"Hahaha. My dear, I would never harm you if you weren't directly in the way of my plans. However, I'll do my best to keep you out of them, whenever possible. As for why I'm here." He stepped towards Karin. "Only with her body may Morgana make the trip to Arcaneum. Her current host is too weak and would burn up in transit. Sadly, there aren't any others we can try without it being more trouble than it's worth."

Karin began walking away from Lucifer but it was futile. The Archdemon had closed the distance within seconds. She attempted to quickly cast a spell but Lucifer wrapped his hand around her neck and squeezed, lifting her from her feet.

From where he sat on the bed, Joe struggled to move and stumbled, collapsing to the floor as he tried to leave the bed. "Lucifer… Dammit! This isn't over!" He threatened the Archdemon with all the strength he could muster in such a weakened state.

"So… that's your game, is it? How bold of you. Upset about my breakout are you, Ereshkigal?" He grinned as he looked to the other side of the bed Joe had been resting in as the mage he strangled futilely tried to pry him off as her air supply dwindled. "Oh that's right, it's our first meeting, isn't that right Joseph? Well, it's finally nice to meet the one responsible for putting your band of rangers together, it's been quite entertaining so far. I'm very interested to see what you'll do now you're all together… well if it lasts that is." He smirked at the red ranger, like he knew more than those around him.

Though Sera and Karin couldn't see, both he and Joe saw the scowling incorporeal presence of Ereshkigal staring daggers at the Archdemon. The Goddess of the Underworld was reduced to watching while her servant was rendered useless. Another crimson aura sigil appeared under Lucifer's feet and shone brightly as he and Karin were carried off to his next scheduled destination. Before he was completely gone however, he left them with one last word of provocation. "Toodles."

**|Occult Circle|**

**Veteran Rangers - Mythos Power Rangers - Their feats unknown to the wider world, they did battle with the ancient warlord Shadai and his minions, before the Crimson High Demon warlord Abaddon attempted to claim the world, beginning with their quaint town of Castelan. In their final acts of duty, they fought against a being that used their old enemy Shadai as a pawn, veiling much of their identity throughout their conflict. Ultimately, the final battle revealed this evil to be the Primordial entity of chaos, Kroni. An ever devouring beast of darkness that intended to swallow the whole world and would have succeeded; if not for the heroism these rangers showed. Along the way, they found a mortal enemy in the Ancient Sorceress Morgana Le Fey, who continues to wreak havoc across the modern world and is a Witch without parallel. Though these rangers continue their duties to a degree, their continuing battles with Morgana each leave them at stalemate after stalemate.**

**That was chapter 8 everyone, thank you for reading. I hope you all enjoyed seeing some old faces and the debut of Atremis' Dryad ranger verteran form here and since things have been quite hectic again lately in the real world, I hope this was at least a brief respite from all that crazy stuff. I wanted to sort of ease in how many characters I'd be introducing so it wasn't too bloated. Next chapter though, you'll be seeing the rest of the core team in action, who will also have new and improved looks to match their experience. All that said, we had some build up on some side plots and a big twist that the rangers didn't see coming. Lucifer really likes to mess with everyone if it means his plans are furthered. But as for why Arcaneum specifically, I'm sure you can put two and two together with what's been said already. Though the bigger question has to be how Morgana fits into his plans. All answers in due time. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and we'll see the aftermath to all this along with the rest of the Mythos rangers in the third part of this crossover. Until then, thanks for reading!**

**Next chapter: Arcanaeum**

**Synopsis: Morgana's trickery knows no bounds and with Lucifer's aid, Karin has fallen into their grasp. Now bound for Arcanaeum, the two teams must venture beyond the world they are used to, into a land ruled by Magic. Together, they journey towards the Sable Vault and the danger that lies within. Though whether they are prepared for what lies within this tightly guarded place, is another matter. The challenges they are about to face are unlike anything of their home realm. Will they be able to survive the dangers of Arcanaeum? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.**


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